Off Season News

We're deep into the off-season now and the last couple of weeks seem to have been particularly fruitful in news.

What actually prompted me to make a comment about all this was news of Frank Carroll's latest student, Jonathan Cassar, who has one of the most gorgeous spreadeagles known to man. This news comes just a couple of weeks after it was announced that Denis Ten, of Kazakhstan, is also going to Carroll. What with Mirai and the other, lower level US girls he coaches, this means that Mr Carroll is going to be a very busy man - and I can't help but wonder if we can take this as near-confirmation that Evan isn't returning to competition, at least for the upcoming season. It could happen, of course, and there's been no official announcement yet, but I just can't see Frank Carroll spreading himself so thin.

In further news, Joubert has also split from his coach, and is apparently heading overseas to train his new programs. It's rumoured that he's going to Toronto to work with Orser, but as far as I'm aware, nothing has actually been announced about just who he's going to. I'd definitely be interested to see how Brian would do under him. He's got a completely different style to Adam Rippon, who Orser also trains...it's be interesting to see if those two would rub off on each other any, if they were training together. Whoever he ends up with, and for however long (apparently he's just going overseas for the summer), I think this is definitely a story to be watching out for.

Probably the bizarrest news of them all is the rumours and stories that Fedor Andreev, who has been trying to compete singles for Azerbaijan all last season, is trying out to skate ice dance with Jana Khokhlova. I'm pretty sure that Fedor has never done dance before, so that seems like kind of a massive jump down for Jana, but we'll see what comes of it.

IceNetwork has an article detailing Ashley Wagner's plans for the next season, and she says she's already working on her new programs and some new combinations, as well as working on that flutz. She says that Priscilla is thinking of something 'slinky and jazzy', which I actually think would suit Ashley very well.

And finally, the agenda for the ISU Congress have been posted online and it looks like a lot of things could be changing next year. I'm not going to get into every last detail, but for the most part, I'm open to change and I'm interested to see exactly which proposals go through!

I'm sure there's more news around and, of course, much more to come, but that's what's interested me the most this week!

Goosebumps

I just rewatched this performance:



It is absolutely incredible. Watching it back, knowing the result and not being nervous for the two of them, makes it so much easier to enjoy, and wow. Aliona's mistake on that first jump is barely even noticeable, if you're not watching it from a 'will they get the gold' point of view. It literally made the hairs on my arms stand on end. I think I'm right in saying that they aren't planning to retire just yet. I can't wait for next season.

The 09/10 Season: Early Season

I was originally just going to do a list of my favourite programs and performances of this season, but since I have nothing better to do, I figured it'd be nice to look back at the whole season in a little more detail.

So, for me, the season began at the Nebelhorn Trophy way back in September. I was mainly there to see Lambiel skate after his recent announcement that he would be making an Olympic comeback, and despite the fact that it wasn't clean, his performance of his fantastic William Tell SP was one of my very favourite moments of the whole season. The way that the tiny rink absolutely filled in anticipation of his skate, and the electric atmosphere as he did so, was just magical.

Another brilliant debut was that of Davis/White's now-legendary OD. I am so glad that I got to see that live. It was clear right from the off that Charlie and Meryl were going to be serious contenders this year, despite their fourth place finish at Worlds the season before.

As well as the big names, this competition also gave me some of my lesser-known favourites of the season, mainly because of their off-ice presence around the rink; one of the most interesting things about the Nebelhorn was getting to see all the skaters really 'up close and personal'. The big one was Ryan Bradley, who I'd liked at Worlds in 2008 and not seen since. Obviously, I fell completely in love with his free program, but I also loved the way he was constantly around the boards. He'd always pop up to support the rest of the Team USA members, and he was just generally extremely charming and completely won me over.

I also became something of a Viktor Pfeifer fan, although granted this was mostly because he and Priscilla Hill sat next to us at almost every event and I liked the way he showed up to watch everything. Although Cheltzie Lee did not have a good competition here, I liked her energy and her off-ice attitude, and Miriam Ziegler, too, was an almost constant presence around the rink and was so bouncy and happy that I immediately became a fan. Alissa Czisny was also around a lot, looking very friendly and approachable, and despite the fact that she got a lot of under-rotations on her jumps, she was absolutely beautiful to watch on the ice.

Finally, we have the break-out story of the season in Michal Brezina. The only reason I really paid him any attention at first was because he was constantly wearing this pair of red basketball shorts and running up and down the stairs in our block, but, like Bradley, I loved his FS and was, of course, delighted to see him have the season that he did. He actually only got the bronze medal, behind Ivan Tretyakov, who was great in the FS and who I haven't seen at all since then. I'd like to see these two compete now and see who would end up on top; I'm thinking Brezina.

All in all, the Nebelhorn Trophy was my favourite of the three competitions I attended this year. Like I said, I loved getting to see all the skaters really close up; there is definitely something kind of surreal about watching Priscilla Hill buying fish and chips from the fast food seafood place in town, or stepping out of the bathroom to almost be decapitated by Kiira Korpi practising off ice jumps, but it was a whole lot of fun and I would definitely go in the future.

As for setting up for the season, at this point I was still optimistic that Stéphane would get all his jumps clean and was fervently hoping that he could get Olympic Gold. My preference of Davis/White over Virtue/Moir was cemented, and although I'd liked Brezina, I don't think I ever would have imagined that he would beat the likes of Jeremy Abbott to finish just out of the medals at Worlds this very same season.

One thing that is kind of weird is that I seriously do not remember anything about Savchenko/Szolkowy's performances; all I remember is that Tatiana always wore the exact same, all-white outfit around the rink, and that she spent a lot of time warming up at the boards. I guess that shows just how fast they won me over this season, given that by Olympics and Worlds, I was desperately hoping they'd get the gold.

Next up, I'll look at the Grand Prix Series as a whole. It's fun to think back to who the main contenders were for Olympic medals at different points over the season, and especially how things changed since then!

Rachael Flatt

Rachael Flatt recently announced two things. Number one, she is going to attend Stanford. Number two, she is deferring her entry until 2011, which means that she will definitely be sticking around for another year, at least.

Now, I quite like Rachael Flatt. She seems really sweet, she's obviously talented, and I also feel sorry for her since she gets so much negativity thrown at her and it must be difficult to know that so many people feel that you're boring, you don't deserve your national title, whatever. I also think it's pretty tough that she keeps getting under-rotations thrown at her, which, I don't think, has ever been a real problem for her before.

However, there is definitely something about her that just makes her not really very captivating. We're frequently told what a bubbly personality she has, and off the ice, in interviews and the like, this definitely comes across. However, it doesn't often come across on the ice, which is definitely an issue, whether it's a problem of hers or just a problem in the types of programs she skates and music she uses. Personally, I'd say it's the latter. Rachael tends to skate to kind of bland, 'pretty princess' types of music that makes her programs inoffensive, but forgettable.

One program of hers I did really like is her short program of this last season, to 'Sing, Sing, Sing'. At Nationals in particular, I thought she did a great job performing it. She looked like she was having a lot of fun and she got a lot of spontaneous applause from the audience, which, as far as I can tell, her skating doesn't usually evoke. She showed a similarly fun side in her 2009 exhibition to 'Respect', which was the first time I saw her skate and thought 'hey, I like this girl'. I also quite like her 'Fame' exhibition that she used this season, although I only saw it a couple of times.

Another thing about Rachael that I think is kind of off is her 'packaging.' She's not fat at all and she's actually really pretty (I think she looks great in the picture above) but she has kind of a round face that doesn't really suit her hair pulled back; she looks really pretty with it down or with a side fringe. At the end of the day, there's not much she can do about that, since she can't exactly have it down to skate in competitions, but something she can do something about is her dresses, which are often kind of hit and miss. I think she needs to stop wearing pretty pastel shades and go for something bolder, like the red she wore in her long program this year (and, incidentally, the Respect exhibition I liked so much). I think she'd look good in richer colours like dark purple and navy blue.

Finally, I do kind of worry that Rachael may have achieved all the success she is going to achieve. When her main competition was the likes of Ashley Wagner (whom I love but who has flutz issues, just recently developed real artistry, etc), Alissa Czisny, who is a major headcase, and a struggling Mirai Nagasu and Caroline Zhang, Rachael was a great choice for the judges because she was dependable, inoffensive, a good, wholesome 'face' for the sport. However, Mirai definitely seems to have gotten her sparkle back and looks pretty much unstoppable as soon as she can work out those underrotations for good. Then there's the likes of Agnes Zawadski, who, I imagine, will be making her mark on the senior scene pretty soon, and Christina Gao, as well as any other upcoming juniors (Kiri Baga, for instance) or promising younger seniors (e.g Samantha Cesario, who has a great quality to her skating). All these girls seem to have a little more spark and presence than Rachael, and if she keeps getting hit with URs as she did towards the end of last season, I think Rachael Flatt could see herself sinking in the standings. Depending on what Wagner, Nagasu and maybe Zawadski come out with next season, she might even struggle to make the world team next year.

That said, she probably still has at least another year in the judges' favour and I do wish her all the best both in her skating, and at Stanford because like I said, I think she's very sweet and clearly very talented.

For good measure, here's that 'Respect' exhibition:

09/10 Questionnaire

I am planning on doing a more in-depth look back at the season at some point in the near future, but for now, I found this questionnaire on Ice Addiction and it looked fun, so here we go:

Favourite Men's Short Program - As a program itself, Jeremy Abbott's 'A Day In The Life'. I actually downloaded the Beatles original because I love that music so much and I listen to the Beck version all the time on Youtube. And the choreography and the transitions and those steps are second to none! Also, the two William Tells, Stéphane Lambiel and Alban Préaubert, both get honourable mentions from me. Stéphane's is gorgeous, obviously, and Alban's is a lot of fun.

Favourite Men's Long Program - Again, thinking about the actual program rather than my favourite performance, I'm gonna have to say Ryan Bradley. The first time I saw any of it was watching him practise in Nebelhorn; he was just doing the steps, no music or anything, and straight away I knew I was going to love that program. Honourable mentions to Adam Rippon (that entry into that 3Lz+2T+2L!), Daisuke Takahashi, Javier Fernandez (his drunken step sequence does it for me everytime) and Stéphane.

Favourite Ladies' Short Program - She's not my favourite skater, but Rachael Flatt's 'Sing, Sing, Sing' really makes me smile. It's actually one of the few ladies' programs this season that I really look forward to seeing; I always look forward to seeing Mao, Yu-Na, Lepisto, even Ksenia, skate, but I can't say I really love their programs. I also like Mirai Nagasu's 'Pirates'. I guess I am really pro-USA this season!

Favourite Ladies' Long Program - Honestly, I can't even think of a particular program that I absolutely love, but I'm going to go with Mirai's 'Carmen.' I also like Ashley Wagner's, actually.

Favourite Pairs Short Program - Once again, I actually struggled with this one, but I think it's got to be Kavaguti/Smirnov, because hello, the girl wears a tiara.

Favourite Pairs Long Program - When I started to think about it, I was actually surprised by how many programs I have loved this season! Savchenko/Szolkowy's 'Out of Africa' is absolutely gorgeous, so I'm giving that my gold medal, as it were, but then there's Kavaguti/Smirnov - I maintain that they were genuinely magical at Euros - and I also love Mukhortova/Trankov's 'Love Story', Evora/Ladwig's 'Love Actually', Yannick/Bonheur's 'Romeo and Juliet' and my favourite Swiss kids, Morand/Dorsaz, with their brilliant Burberry outfits.

Favourite OD - Oh, this is easy. Davis/White, a million times over. Sorry, Tessa and Scott.

Favourite FD - Honestly, my favourite FD of all season has been Pechalat/Bourzat's Circus, but since that is really a program from last season, I guess it doesn't count. In that case, I'm going with Meryl and Charlie once more, although I can appreciate that Virtue/Moir's is exquisite and beautiful and gorgeous and all those things that they are. I also loved Khokhlova/Novitsky's 'Firebird', and another honourable mention to the Kerrs, even though I preferred their Muse FD from last season.

Favourite Breakout Star of the Season - Michal Brezina, for sure! He was a Nebelhorn find for me and I love him. He is definitely going places.

Heartbreak of the Season - Joannie is the obvious answer, of course, but as for heartbreak directly related to the ice itself: Ashley Wagner not making the Olympic team after the season of her life, Oda's epic meltdown at Worlds, Joubert's epic meltdown in Vancouver (I mean, Jeremy's was sad, too, but really, we were kind of expecting it from Jeremy), Ryan Bradley's freak injury before what could have been the high he needed to end his career on, and just a small one to end, but Adam Rippon's face after he finished his SP at US Nationals was genuinely heartbreaking.

Skater(s) You'd Most Like to See Saved From Their Imminent Retirement - Now that Joubert has said he'll stay for another two years; Ryan Bradley, for one. With Evan and Johnny likely retiring, he absolutely would have a great shot at making another World team or, if he could get it all together, maybe even a National title, if he stayed in for another season. Plus, I love him. Also, the Kerrs, for similar reasons; with so many of the top teams out of the picture, particularly at Euros, next season could be a great one for these two.

Skater You'd Never Like to See Again! - Oh, Evan Lysacek. I'd actually rather see Plushenko make a comeback than Evan, if only because I do think that a lot of Plushenko's arrogance is tongue in cheek and he is kind of hilarious. I also wouldn't be too upset if Patrick Chan never made another appearance, but I don't doubt that he'll be back next season with more ridiculous comments tomake and an even more inflated ego.

Best Tweeter of the Season - Charlie White, particularly his back-and-forths with other skaters. Honourable mentions to Trevor Young, for one particularly hilarious evening of tweets to Ryan Bradley, Mirai Nagasu, Tanith Belbin, and, randomly, Ana Cecilia Cantu of Mexico, who is genuinely hilarious.

That was a fun waste of time! Like I said, I'm planning to do something of a 'best moments' of the season, including my favourite performances rather than programs, and I have a feeling they're actually going to be quite different to my answers here, so that should be interesting.

Our Champions

Worlds 2010: Ladies' Free

The very last portion of these World Championships finished up yesterday with the ladies' free program, and the event was almost as bizarre as the short. I'm still getting over the fact that our brand new world bronze medallist, as much as I love her, earned that medal with a three-triple program.

Gimazetdinova somewhat set the tone for the afternoon with am absolute mess of a skate. I'm not a fan, but it wasn't a nice way for her to finish her career and it was sad to see her looking so devastated at the end. Sonia Lafuente skated well, aside from a fall on her first jump, and finished up in 18th on the free and 20th overall, so not bad for her. I wish she'd be a little more expressive in her face, though.

Little Min-Jung Kwak wasn't bad, but she wasn't as impressive as she was in Vancouver, which is completely understandable. She seems to have changed coaches since the Olympics, because I'm sure she wasn't with Orser then. She has really nice spirals, but she got a lot of under-rotations. Definitely a lot of potential, though, and isn't she just adorable?

Manouk Gijsman looked huge after Kwak. She stepped out of almost every single jump, but still, good for her for qualifying and for at least staying on her feet, for the most part. She has nice presentation and spins and I liked her spirals with the music, and she's pretty, too. Apparently she's the first Netherlands lady to qualify for the free in some ridiculously long amount of time.

Glebova was having a great skate and hit all her jumps, and then fell off her last spin, literally ten seconds before her program ended, which has got to hurt. I like her, but my God, I will not miss that dress of hers. She finished 21st, which is disappointing for her.

Suzuki looked a million times better than she did in the short, as we'd expected. It wasn't perfect, but there were no major mistakes and she finished in eleventh, which is quite a comeback from 20th. She absolutely sold the hell out of her steps, and that red dress is so much better than the orange thing with the white jacket she was wearing earlier in the season. I've heard that she isn't planning to retire, which is good to hear. She's grown on me a lot over the season.

I actually really enjoyed Sarah Hecken, much more than I have done previously. She fell on the lutz but was very clean otherwise, and she's doing a much better job of presenting herself and not getting distracted by mistakes/falls, as she did at Euros and in Vancouver. She looked very happy with her scores and so she should be; she finished up in twelfth.

Leonova was even messier than ever. She definitely peaked too early, which is a shame to see given that she was so fresh and fun and perky last season. This will probably be the last we'll see of her what with all the junior talent coming up in Russia, although I'm not sure how many of them will be age-eligible. It's clear that Makarova is already sailing ahead, anyway.

Kiira was hard to watch. Her jumps appeared to have completely left her, but bless her, kept performing it and kept smiling the whole way through. At least her pops were kind of pretty.

I don't know what Jenna & KVDP have been doing lately but they should definitely keep doing it because that girl was on fire today. Even her hair looked better than usual. She came in 14th, which is her best ever Worlds result, and a great way to make up for the epic disaster that was Vancouver. I was kind of assuming she'd be retiring after this season, but apparently she says that she'll definitely be back next season and is even hoping to do four more years.

Cheltzie Lee is lovely to watch and had a couple of mis-steps on landings, but other than that, it was a good skate for her. She needs to use her face a little more though. She didn't look too impressed with her scores, but they weren't bad at all, and she finished seventeenth.

Elene G started off fairly strong but it all fell apart towards the middle and she ended up falling out of her spin, too, and then stumbling in her ending choreography. She didn't seem to have her usual spark, either, and at times she was really just skating right through her music. She ended up eighteenth.

Miki Ando gave one of the few clean performances of the night and I actually enjoyed it. She hit all her jumps and she was actually engaging and had lots of attack, so that was nice to see. She did have a hell of a slow sit spin though. I have no idea what was up with these girls and their spins yesterday. It was lovely to see her so happy at the end, she usually looks so miserable, and she finished fourth, so Japan easily secured their three spots; they were actually the only nation to do so this year.

Yu-Na looked like she was absolutely back on track and it was all going perfectly, I was convinced she was going to take back the world title, and then she fell on a 3S, and it was obvious that it threw her completely off for the whole rest of the program. She has no idea what to do when she falls, does she? She pulled off an easy 3Lz right after the fall, and then completely popped a 2A, and all of a sudden things looked very, very good for one Miss Nagasu. Still, she still got silver, which really is an indication of the quality of the rest of the girls.

Viktoria Helgesson has had the competition of her life. Once again, she skated really, really well, and I actually found her blonde hair/hot pink dress/Barbie doll aesthetic kind of refreshing and cute. I loved her music, too. She made the top ten, earning two spots for Sweden next year, which will likely go to her and her sister, Joshi, which is great. Fantastic job from her.

To me, Phaneuf was mildly uninspiring, but she was completely clean and perfect and I always like seeing skaters skate their absolute best. She definitely stepped up to the plate in Joannie's absence. I know there'd been some question over whether or not she would be able to hold onto Canada's two spots, especially since Samson bombed, but she ended up in fifth, so good for her.

Sebestyen did not have a great skate. Her KnC was very emotional and was probably very bittersweet, because that will have been her last competition performance ever.

By her standards, Carolina actually went clean, which was a lovely way for her to end the season, and she placed in sixth. Hopefully that, paired with her European title, will be what she needs to get right back on track next season, although honestly, like Jeremy, I feel like I am just losing patience with that girl.

I am seriously delighted that Mao won gold! She was definitely on yesterday, and I'm so glad that she was able to 'beat Yu-Na properly', like she said she wanted to. If you think about her form at the beginning of the season and on the Grand Prix circuit, it's amazing that she was able to come back and get a silver Olympic medal and then win the world title. I will definitely not miss that free program of hers, though. Apparently she will not be coached by Tarasova next season, and hopefully she'll be able to use much lighter music that really lets her shine more.

I don't think I've ever seen Rachael Flatt pop a jump before, but she did yesterday. She didn't really look sure of herself the whole way through, like she wasn't over her skates properly. I feel sorry for her; you have to wonder if all the negativity that surrounds her generally, and her winning of the National title, is finally getting to her. She says she's thinking of deferring her college entry for a year but I wonder how limited her time at the top is, because there are a lot of younger, more dynamic girls - Christina Gao, to name one - coming up who will probably start to overtake her pretty soon, and I like Rachael's skating.

You know what, I'm gonna stick it out there and say that Laura Lepisto is my current favourite ladies' skater. She is absolutely gorgeous to watch. She nailed the 3T-3T, great speed going into that, and the 3Lz, and then doubled the loops and the salchow, but who cares, because apparently that is good enough for a medal. I find it vaguely hilarious that our new world bronze medallist had three triples in her whole program. She is lovely, though.

From the sparkle in her eye at the beginning, I thought Mirai was going to be on, but she wasn't. She had a step out on the 3Lz, tight landings, and a fall on a 2a. It must have been pretty much downgrade central as well, because she dropped all the way down to seventh. That means that, with the two US girls finishing in 7th and 9th, they only earned two spots for next year. I thought three was a done deal after their 1st and 6th placements after the short, but there you go. I'm hoping Wagner gets a shot next year.

I love Ksenia Makarova. She is beautiful. After Flatt, Lepisto and Nagasu, I thought she was basically a lock for the bronze, but she ended up all the way down in eighth. She needs better choreo - and better dresses - but otherwise, she has a lot of potential. She seemed pretty delighted with her scores, anyway.

And that's it! The season is really over! I feel like I'm not entirely sure what to do with myself anymore. There is, of course, already a few exciting things coming out about various teams and various rules, so hopefully it won't be too long until September rolls around and the 2010/2011 season can begin!