Skaters at Skate America 2019

This is just really for me as I will be attending Skate America next month (first time for me to attend an international competition AND my first trip to Vegas). I like to have an idea of what the programs look like, especially since I hope to snap quite a few pictures. I can't help it, I love the challenge of shooting sports! I know people say to make sure to enjoy the moment and not just live through the camera, but I really do enjoy it so much more when I'm also trying to get the shot. I'm weird.

Here's hoping the lists don't change much due to injury. I've got 28 days till I'm in Vegas!


Ladies

Bradie Tennell skates her Long Program.
2018 US National Championships
San Jose, CA / January 5, 2018

Veronik MALLET (CAN)
Short Program / Long Program

Wakaba HIGUCHI (JPN)
Short Program / Long Program

Kaori SAKAMOTO (JPN)
Short Program / Long Program

Mako YAMASHITA (JPN)
Short Program / Long Program

Elizabet TURSYNBAEVA (KAZ)
Short Program / Long Program

Eunsoo LIM (KOR)
Short Program / Long Program

Stanislava KONSTANTINOVA (RUS)
Short Program / Long Program


Anna SHCHERBAKOVA (RUS)
Short Program / Long Program

Elizaveta TUKTAMYSHEVA (RUS)
Short Program / Long Program

Karen CHEN (USA)
Short Program / Long Program

Bradie TENNELL (USA)
Short Program / Long Program

Amber GLENN (USA)
Short Program / Long Program



Men

Nathan Chen skates his Short Program.
2018 US National Championships
San Jose, CA / January 4, 2018

Keegan MESSING (CAN)
Short Program / Long Program

Boyang JIN (CHN)
Short Program / Long Program

Michal BREZINA (CZE)
Short Program / Long Program

Romain PONSART (FRA)
Short Program / Long Program

Koshiro SHIMADA (JPN)
Short Program / Long Program

Kazuki TOMONO (JPN)
Short Program / Long Program

Junhwan CHA (KOR)
Short Program / Long Program

Dmitri ALIEV (RUS)
Short Program / Long Program

Roman SAVOSIN (RUS)
Short Program / Long Program

Jason BROWN (USA)
Short Program / Long Program

Nathan CHEN (USA)
Short Program / Long Program

Alex KRASNOZHON (USA)
Short Program / Long Program

Pairs

Ashley Cain & Timothy LeDuc's Free Program
2018 US National Championships
San Jose, CA / January 5, 2018

Ekaterina ALEXANDROVSKAYA/Harley WINDSOR (AUS)
Short Program / Long Program

Camille RUEST/Andrew WOLFE (CAN)
Short Program / Long Program

Cheng PENG/Yang JIN (CHN)
Short Program / Long Program

Daria PAVLIUCHENKO/Denis KHODYKIN (RUS)
Short Program / Long Program

Natalia ZABIIAKO/Alexander ENBERT (RUS)
Short Program / Long Program

Ashley CAINGRIBBLE/Timothy LEDUC (USA)
Short Program / Long Program

Haven DENNEY/Brandon FRAZIER (USA)
Short Program / Long Program


Jessica CALALANG/Brian JOHNSON (USA)
Short Program / Long Program






Dance

Madison Hubbell & Zachary Donohue's Short Dance
2018 US National Championships
San Jose, CA / January 4, 2018

Laurence FOURNIERBEAUDRY / Nikolaj SORENSEN (CAN)
Rhythm Dance / Free Dance

Hong CHEN / Zhuoming SUN (CHN)

Rhythm Dance / Free Dance

Marie-Jade LAURIAULT / Romain LE GAC  (FRA)
Rhythm Dance / Free Dance

Sofia SHEVCHENKO / Igor EREMENKO (RUS)
Rhythm Dance / Free Dance

Alexandra STEPANOVA / Ivan BUKIN (RUS)
Rhythm Dance / Free Dance

Tiffani ZAGORSKI /Jonathan GUERREIRO (RUS)
Rhythm Dance / Free Dance

Olivia SMART / Adrian DIAZ  (ESP)
Rhythm Dance / Free Dance

Christina CARREIRA / Anthony PONOMARENKO (USA)
Rhythm Dance / Free Dance

Madison HUBBELL / Zachary DONOHUE (USA)
Rhythm Dance / Free Dance

Caroline GREEN/ Michael PARSONS (USA)
Rhythm Dance / Free Dance

USFS "Preview" - Championship Pairs Teams

Thanks to Sylvia at Unseen Skaters for the unofficial roster.

Ashley Cain/Timothy LeDuc Short Program / Long Program

Jessica Calalang/Zack Sidhu Short Program / Long Program

Marissa Castelli/Mervin Tran Short Program / Long Program

Winter Deardorff/Max Settlage Short Program / Long Program

Haven Denney/Brandon Frazier Short Program / Long Program

Nica Digerness/Danny Neudecker Short Program / Long Program

Jade Esposito/Rique Newby-Estrella Short Program / Long Program

Caitlin Fields/Ernie Utah Stevens Short Program / Long Program

Tarah Kayne/Danny O’Shea Short Program / Long Program

Chelsea Liu/Brian Johnson Short Program / Long Program

Jessica Pfund/Joshua Santillan Short Program / Long Program

Alexa Scimeca-Knierim/Chris Knierim Short Program / Long Program

Erika Smith/AJ Reiss Short Program / Long Program

Deanna Stellato-Dudek/Nathan Bartholomay Short Program / Long Program

Allison Timlen/Justin Highgate-Brutman Short Program / Long Program

Alexandria Yao/Jacob Simon Short Program / Long Program

World's Greatest: Alexei Yagudin (RUS)

Alexei is considered one of the greatest skaters of all time. He's one of the few skaters that has 4 titles to his credit as well as an Olympic title. Plagued with injury through most of that time, he made it a full cycle before being taken out of competition by his knees. They just couldn't handle the stress and strain. He skated with Stars On Ice after his forced retirement from competition. Now he's still Mr. Celebrity in Russia and his the father of an adorable little kid.

Alexei got me hooked on men's competitive skating. Most of the time I waited until they were pros to make a determination on if I would like them, but Alexei did for competitive figure skating what Kurt Browning does for the pro world. He was able to seamlessly weave athletics with musicality/art. Skaters like Alexei are rare.

Alexei had the difficult hardware, but he was more known for his footwork. Many still claim it's the best ever, however if one takes a look at what he does it's not only simple in comparison with other skaters - it's pretty much the same step sequence over and over (and the same from program to program). Tarasova and Morosov found a formula that worked on their skater, and people blindly follow.

That does not diminish Alexei's mark on the sport, however. He is a fantastic showman and athlete. I truly believe we'd be hearing more out of him competitively but his injuries - and knee surgery - kept him out of the running. Still, four world titles and an Olympic title is nothing to sneeze at.


My favorite program of his at worlds - a year he didn't win - his SP to Revolutionary Etude:

30 Days of [Figure] Skating: Day Five

Day 5: Your favourite Dance program

Oh goodness this is tough. Growing up I didn't "get" the ice dance side of the sport, it didn't have jumps or throws so it just didn't interest me. Then in 1999 I attended a show in Anchorage that Scott Hamilton (shocking, I know) brought up partnering with Tesoro. Renee Roca & Gorsha Sur were the token dance team in the show and they totally blew me away. Who knew ice dance could be so amazing? They skated to their program titled "Ghost". It sent shivers through me at 14.

Fast forward a few years to 2005 when I went to my first US National Championships. I met up with Melissa Gregory & Denis Petukhov and Melissa's mom and grandparents (who are all amazing). It was the first time I'd met them face to face, though we'd communicated by email prior to my making the trek to an actual event. I learned so much by sitting with Dale that week as she explained the basics of the dances. She was just your regular skater mom, but it was through her that I fell in love with the sport her daughter was a part of.

In 2007, Melissa and Denis had the free dance of a lifetime. It was one of the most beautiful programs I have ever seen, and I'm still so bummed that I did not get to see them skate it live. It was their Adam and Eve program - which would later become "Fallen Angels" a program they skated with US Men's Champion Johnny Weir.

I know I've already featured them before, and I'm incredibly biased, but Adam & Eve/Fallen Angels was just spectacular. I was tempted to go with Belbin & Agosto's Gypsy Free Dance from 2005, or Torvill & Dean's Take Five, but I've gotta go with MelDen once again. That program was everything a free dance should be.




And, of course, I gotta give some love to Gorsha Sur and that chick he skated with... so amazing.

Harding marries again

allen figure skating superstar Tonya Harding has made the news once again, this time, thankfully, on a positive note. The Columbian and Associated Press reported over the weekend that Harding applied for a Marriage License with a Joseph Jens Price on June 23, and the AP wire stated that as of Saturday the paperwork had been turned in to prove that the wedding/marriage had taken place.

Harding made a name for herself in the early 90s as one of Nancy Kerrigan's main rivals leading up to the 1994 Olympic games, she was the only American lady - at that time - to land a triple axel in competition. Harding found herself in the middle of controversy after her - then - husband attacked Nancy Kerrigan at one of her practice sessions (it was later known as the "Whack Heard Round the World."). While she was not found guilty of having a part in the attack, Harding did take a plea deal for the charges of cover-up. Subsequently the United States Figure Skating Association (USFSA) banned the skater from competition for life.

Harding has had a rough go since her figure skating glory days, between domestic violence reports and a very short second marriage and her short lived (and unsuccessful) boxing career, one can only hope she's finally found her happiness.

ISU-1, Plushenko-0

Sanctions from the ISU (International Skating Union) came down this week on self-awarded Olympic Platinum Medalist, Evgeni Plushenko. After skating in the Vancouver Olympics, Plushenko announced he would not skate at the World Figure Skating championships due to medical reasons. An investigation done by the ISU, however, found that during the championships, Plushenko skated in an ice show without permission from the Russian Skating Federation. This is a breach of ISU rules - that were put in place to ensure the top names would find the incentive to compete there by boosting television and ticket sales.

Fans of the sport and the skater alike have voiced their opinions rather strongly as the news broke this morning, many siding with the ISU. This is not a tale of a new to the scene skater not knowing of some obscure rule, this has been set in place for many years now, and Plushenko has been a fixture on competitive ice for over three Olympic cycles.

While other skaters also took time away from Worlds after the strenuous Olympic season, only Plushenko used a medical reason and then decided to skate in a show in the weeks after competition. He did so without the approval of his federation, almost as if he were thumbing his [rather large] nose at the association that dared to give another man "his" second Olympic title.

Plushenko has 21 days to appeal the ISU's lifetime ban.

No Surprise For Men's Olympic Team

Yesterday afternoon was one heck of a men's event. Yes, there were some falls, yes there were some tears. Mainly from Ryan Bradley's fans as we realized his dreams of the Olympics will probably never be realized.

The little things really started adding up for all of the men in Spokane Sunday afternoon. Jeremy Abbot was the sole skater who rose to the occasion and nailed everything. He rightly deserved his placement and his score. It was pretty inspired. The question this blogger has is: will this be a repeat of last season? Will Nationals be his shining moment and then the rest is downhill? We'll see next month.

The biggest shock, possibly, was Evan Lysacek actually going for the quad. To be honest, no one was going to touch Jeremy with the long program he had, but it was still a risky move on Evan's part. He fell, not completing the rotation. Interestingly enough this US Nationals has had the most fair judging that skating's seen in a very long while - and I think EVER in the history of a National Championship (in any country!).

For Sandra Besic to come out and say that Evan deserved the title (this was prior to Jeremy taking the ice) based on the "magic of the program" was laughable. Evan made simple, basic, mistakes in both the Short and Long program; he practically gave the title away.

This should not concern those who believe Evan to be the best shot at a medal. He typically does not skate lights out at nationals - Spokane 2007 being the major exception since Evan became one of the Elite - and seems to save it for Worlds. With the Olympics being the main prize and goal, it should not come as a surprise that he was merely attempting to tick off the elements. This has worked in the past for Evan - he is World Champion the same year he barely made the World Team - so why think it won't continue to work.

Johnny Weir was the spoiler. No one knew WHICH Weir would show up. The confident ready to win avante garde skater with nothing to lose, or the scared to death he's going to fail skater who just hopes he stands upright for four-plus minutes. It seems that both came to the table. Johnny was on fire in the Short Program, he was sassy and completely his own skater. And it worked. He nearly tied Evan, and had their skating orders been reversed, their scores/placements might have been as well. But, the long program brought out the ball of nerves. It was incredibly evident that the pressure was beinging to take its toll on Johnny. The USFSA made it clear last season that they weren't going to give out favors for him, and he knew it going into the Long Program.

The one downer was - there aren't four spots on the Men's team. Ryan Bradley made costly errors in the Short Program only to completely rebound in his Long Program with two quads and more personality than the rest of the top skaters COMBINED. Such is the trademark of Ryan Bradley, and if SOI doesn't sign him up they'll make the biggest mistake - and they can't afford that right now.

So half of the US Figure Skating Team for Vancouver has been decided.
Pairs are Caydee Denney & Jeremy Barrett, and Amanda Evora & Mark Ladwig
Men are Jeremy Abbott, Evan Lysacek, and Johnny Weir.

Can't wait for the rest of the events, it's a great year for USFigure Skating!

Photos (c) Getty Images & The Associated Press c/o DayLife.com

Caption This!

Gotta love awkward moments created by camera...
Photo (c) Getty Images c/o DayLife.com

The right pairs are going to Vancouver.

I was so happy to see reputation judging get thrown out the window during the pairs competition in Spokane. While it was devastating to see Keauna & Rockne falter as much as they did, and Brooke and Ben not make it onto the big podium (still don't get teh whole pewter medal thing, but I digress), it was fantastic to watch Caydee & Jeremy and Amanda and Mark skate like never before and grab first and second.

Caydee and Jeremy have fast tracked their careers to the point where they're now the new "It" team. I've seem Jeremy skate and struggle with other partners for a few years at nationals, but this time it's working. Caydee is MAGIC out there and she brings out a different skater in him. With time they'll settle down and -I believe- will become one of the US golden pairs. I really do have faith. I know that Keauna and Rockne have been given a similar prediction, and -perhaps- they still will, but for now the stars are a little team from Florida.

Also from Florida - Amanda and Mark - it took 8 years of dedication, hard work, and heart, but they finally made it. My friend runs a great fan site for them and I just know she was insane there in spokane watching them skate that amazing long program and then waiting to find out if they'd hold onto second.

Ultimately I believe the right decision was made to go with the top two teams for teh Olympic team. Realistically, the US does not have a chance at a podium finish, and while we do want the highest placements possible, it's also about achieving dreams. Amanda and Mark and Caydee and Jeremy's stories make for great television, which is the only way pairs figure skating wins in the US this year. I know NBC put all of their eggs in Keauna and Rockne's basket, but they're just going to have to deal with the changes... roll with the punches... and all that jazz.

Good night from the land of the midnight... well... snow...