So since I am just slightly obsessed with figure skating (have been since…a very long time, maybe since back in ’88 and watching the Calgary Olympics, when I was 4). I stay up late and watch skating events broadcast over the internet (with commenting by PJ Kwong, who is excellent), often early in the morning or late at night, depending what time zone I am in and where the competition is. Then later I watch the rebroadcast on TV, in English (with different commentators) and later in French (I love the French commentators on Radio-Canada, Alain Goldberg). Two weeks ago was the National figure skating championships being held in London Ont. Up for grabs were 2 positions in each disciplines for tickets to the Olympics. The first place spots were fairly determined, Joannie Rochette, Patrick Chan, Virtue & Moir, Dube and Davidson. The 2nd place spots were however up for grabs. Cynthia Phaneuf made the women’s category exciting by winning the short program; she ended up placing 2nd after the long but skated beautifully. She shows great perseverance. She won a national title several years ago (in 2005 I think) and stopped competing for a few years due to injuries and a growth spurt, but she proved at Canadians that she is back, so I am happy that she qualified. In the pairs event, the silver went to Annabelle Langlois (from Gatineau) and Cody Hay. They were also recovering from a lost season last year. I was kind of sad that Megan Duhamel and Craig Buntin didn’t qualify, they are a very exciting team to watch, Duhamel manages to pull of throws that seem doomed, she has spunk!
In the dance event, it was a very very close between 2nd and 3rd place. Vanessa Crone and Paul Poirier (a very young dance team) ended up placing 2nd, a fraction of a point from 3rd, even with a fall. In 3rd place were Kaitlyn Weaver & Andrew Poje (who also had a stumble). I was happy with this result. Though both couples skated beautifully I prefer Crone and Poirier and find they are a stronger team. In the men’s category there were several possibilities for 2nd, the silver ended up going to Vaugh Chipeur. If you haven’t heard about him before, he is known for his amazingly HUGE triple axels, I wish I could jump like him! I think he deserved his Olympic ticket and proved with 2 good skates. It was a bit of a sad event for Kevin Reynolds, who was hoping to qualify for the Olympics in his home town; he made an amazing attempt with a couple of gorgeous quads in his program. However, I think it is ok that he didn’t qualify for the Olympics; he is still a young kid and has more potential to place well at the 2014 games in Sochi.
All in all, I am very happy about the team we are sending and wish them all the best with their skates at the Pacific coliseum (where I was lucky to have a few synchro practices, so hopefully I left a bit of luck on the ice for them!).
Other Figure Skating stuff;
Over the last few weekends the Americans had their national championships.
Womens; Sasha Cohen tried to make a comeback, but did not qualify. Instead they are sending Rachael Flatt and Mirai Nagasu. I don’t think they will be much of a threat to Yu-Na Kim (from Korea, trained by Brian Orser in Toronto, my prediction for Olympic gold) or to the several Japanese skaters or Joannie Rochette for the spots on the podium.
Men’s; Jeremy Abbot, Evan Lysacek and Johnny Weir (not a fan of him!) will be coming to Vancouver. There are many possibilities for the Men’s podium at the Olympics and it could include any of these skaters, or the Japanese guys, Brian Joubert (French), Stephane Lambiel (Swiss) or Evgeni Plushenko (Russian making a comeback after a few years break since his last Olympic medal, but he still has his quad) and of course my favorite Patrick Chan!
Ice Dance; The Americans are sending Davis & White, Belbin ( a emigrated Canadian) & Augusto and Samuelson and Bate. The first 2 pairs are podium threats, though I am pretty sure Virtue and Moir can beat them.
Pairs; Denney and Barrett won the title, however I am most happy about the 2nd place team, Evora and Ladwig. This pair’s team was at Skate Canada competition in 2008, when it was in Ottawa and I volunteered there. They are one of the most friendly pairs teams I have met, taking the time to chat with volunteers and recognizing us later when we were volunteering somewhere else. And plus they have a gorgeous short program skated to the Love Actually theme, a very nice piece of music. I don’t know if the Canadians will make it to the pairs podium, there are several strong Chinese teams (Sheng and Zhao who are making a comeback), as well as some Russians teams and the germans (Szolkovy and Savchenko (neat fact; he skated synchro for a year when he didn’t have a partner!))
The Russian team will apparently be doing some pre-training in Abbotsford, I might try to find out which rink and try to watch a practice! I wonder where other teams are pre-training? The official practice venue is Trout Lake rink, but many teams arrive sooner to get used to the time/city/etc. The Olympic village opens on Feb. 4th I think.
I was in Edmonton this weekend for Mountain Regionals. It was a great weekend, more on that on my next blog entry!
I have decided to compete at Adult Nationals now that I am old enough! And also, the competition will be held in Ottawa, at the Sensplex, I rink I often skate at in the summers. Now I just need to try finding more practice ice so I can be ready for the big event.
Skate with you soon!
Blog on skating at the Olympics; you knew it was coming eventually!
So since I am just slightly obsessed with figure skating (have been since…a very long time, maybe since back in ’88 and watching the Calgary Olympics, when I was 4). I stay up late and watch skating events broadcast over the internet (with commenting by PJ Kwong, who is excellent), often early in the morning or late at night, depending what time zone I am in and where the competition is. Then later I watch the rebroadcast on TV, in English (with different commentators) and later in French (I love the French commentators on Radio-Canada, Alain Goldberg). Two weeks ago was the National figure skating championships being held in London Ont. Up for grabs were 2 positions in each disciplines for tickets to the Olympics. The first place spots were fairly determined, Joannie Rochette, Patrick Chan, Virtue & Moir, Dube and Davidson. The 2nd place spots were however up for grabs. Cynthia Phaneuf made the women’s category exciting by winning the short program; she ended up placing 2nd after the long but skated beautifully. She shows great perseverance. She won a national title several years ago (in 2005 I think) and stopped competing for a few years due to injuries and a growth spurt, but she proved at Canadians that she is back, so I am happy that she qualified. In the pairs event, the silver went to Annabelle Langlois (from Gatineau) and Cody Hay. They were also recovering from a lost season last year. I was kind of sad that Megan Duhamel and Craig Buntin didn’t qualify, they are a very exciting team to watch, Duhamel manages to pull of throws that seem doomed, she has spunk!
In the dance event, it was a very very close between 2nd and 3rd place. Vanessa Crone and Paul Poirier (a very young dance team) ended up placing 2nd, a fraction of a point from 3rd, even with a fall. In 3rd place were Kaitlyn Weaver & Andrew Poje (who also had a stumble). I was happy with this result. Though both couples skated beautifully I prefer Crone and Poirier and find they are a stronger team. In the men’s category there were several possibilities for 2nd, the silver ended up going to Vaugh Chipeur. If you haven’t heard about him before, he is known for his amazingly HUGE triple axels, I wish I could jump like him! I think he deserved his Olympic ticket and proved with 2 good skates. It was a bit of a sad event for Kevin Reynolds, who was hoping to qualify for the Olympics in his home town; he made an amazing attempt with a couple of gorgeous quads in his program. However, I think it is ok that he didn’t qualify for the Olympics; he is still a young kid and has more potential to place well at the 2014 games in Sochi.
All in all, I am very happy about the team we are sending and wish them all the best with their skates at the Pacific coliseum (where I was lucky to have a few synchro practices, so hopefully I left a bit of luck on the ice for them!).
Other Figure Skating stuff;
Over the last few weekends the Americans had their national championships.
Womens; Sasha Cohen tried to make a comeback, but did not qualify. Instead they are sending Rachael Flatt and Mirai Nagasu. I don’t think they will be much of a threat to Yu-Na Kim (from Korea, trained by Brian Orser in Toronto, my prediction for Olympic gold) or to the several Japanese skaters or Joannie Rochette for the spots on the podium.
Men’s; Jeremy Abbot, Evan Lysacek and Johnny Weir (not a fan of him!) will be coming to Vancouver. There are many possibilities for the Men’s podium at the Olympics and it could include any of these skaters, or the Japanese guys, Brian Joubert (French), Stephane Lambiel (Swiss) or Evgeni Plushenko (Russian making a comeback after a few years break since his last Olympic medal, but he still has his quad) and of course my favorite Patrick Chan!
Ice Dance; The Americans are sending Davis & White, Belbin ( a emigrated Canadian) & Augusto and Samuelson and Bate. The first 2 pairs are podium threats, though I am pretty sure Virtue and Moir can beat them.
Pairs; Denney and Barrett won the title, however I am most happy about the 2nd place team, Evora and Ladwig. This pair’s team was at Skate Canada competition in 2008, when it was in Ottawa and I volunteered there. They are one of the most friendly pairs teams I have met, taking the time to chat with volunteers and recognizing us later when we were volunteering somewhere else. And plus they have a gorgeous short program skated to the Love Actually theme, a very nice piece of music. I don’t know if the Canadians will make it to the pairs podium, there are several strong Chinese teams (Sheng and Zhao who are making a comeback), as well as some Russians teams and the germans (Szolkovy and Savchenko (neat fact; he skated synchro for a year when he didn’t have a partner!))
The Russian team will apparently be doing some pre-training in Abbotsford, I might try to find out which rink and try to watch a practice! I wonder where other teams are pre-training? The official practice venue is Trout Lake rink, but many teams arrive sooner to get used to the time/city/etc. The Olympic village opens on Feb. 4th I think.
I was in Edmonton this weekend for Mountain Regionals. It was a great weekend, more on that on my next blog entry!
I have decided to compete at Adult Nationals now that I am old enough! And also, the competition will be held in Ottawa, at the Sensplex, I rink I often skate at in the summers. Now I just need to try finding more practice ice so I can be ready for the big event.
Skate with you soon!
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