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: