The Queen Returneth

Many bloggers and journalists have mourned the absense of the reigning olympic champion Yu-Na Kim during the recent grand prix series. A lack of charisma and performance particularly in the ladies event have left many of us hoping for her to return and inject some star quality back into figure skating again.

But the olympic champ has not been idle. Her long time choreographer, David Wilson has travelled to Yu-Na's new training base in LA and together they have created new programmes for her return. The short programme is to Giselle and the long is a 'Homage to Korea' including the famous folk tune Arirang. A tribute to her home country for the support they have shown her.

Yu-Na explained her music choices - "David Wilson had often recommended Arirang (one of the most famous Korean folk music) for program music. However, I had my reservations because I thought it was never the right time. After the success at the Olympics, I thought now is the right time to give back to the people of Korea and to thank them for their enthusiastic support."

 Her new coach Peter Oppegard says "It's a new level of sophistication in her movement. When we first met, the first thing she mentioned was about further enhancing her artistry. This program allows Yuna to expand her already well-known artistic abilities to new horizons." (Universal Sports)

Yu-Na will debut her new programmes at the World Championships in Tokyo in March. Her competitors may be dreading the queen's return. The audience cannot wait!

Oops! - a press blunder for an underwelming British Championships

The Britsh Press made a blunder today by announcing the results of the British figure skating championships before the competition was even finished!

Unsurprisingly, they got the result wrong too! Jenna McCorkell did win herself another british championship, but against a tiny and weak field.

The senior competitions were lacking in big names (or many names at all) with only 3 ladies, 8 men, 2 pairs and 1 ice dance couple!

The full results (including junior, novice and syncro) can be seen here.

It can be safely said that the results are disappointing and even the senior champions' scores would rank very poorly on the international stage. It is worth noting that GB's most famous and successful skaters of the present (Sinead & John Kerr) are out with injury at the moment, and their olympic team-mates from Vancouver, Coomes & Buckland withdrew after the short dance, but there seems to be a distinct lack of new talent to following behind them.

In the ladies event Karly Robertson has been in the shadow of McKorkell for several years. Her only major international assignments are at the European championships in '09 and '10 when GB managed to qualify 2 ladies spots. She did at least make the cut for the free-skate finishing 21st and 23rd on each occasion. Perhaps one new face we might hope to see more of in the future is junior champion Katie Powell (pictured). Although she too has a long way to go to be competitive internationally. She finished 12th at the European youth olympics and 14th at a recent JGP event.

There have been complaints from many corners that British sport has poured much of it's funding into summer olympic sports in the lead up to London 2012, but can a lack of funding really account for the lack of success of British skaters?  The days of success of T&D and John Curry seem a very very long time ago.

TEB Ladies

Once Alissa Czisny had finished her skate she had to watch and wait to see if she would make the final. She was in first with 3 skaters to go. If she finished 4th and Nagasu or Korpi won it would be a tie-breaker on points to see who would take the final spot.

In the end, Haruka Imai was the one who decided it- her below par free skate guaranteed Czisny a medal and a trip to Beijing. Now there was just the medal placements to be decided.


Mirai Nagasu skated a clean and solid freeskate to win her first grand prix medal- a silver. Kiira Korpi held on to win her first grand prix gold.

The six ladies who will compete in Beijing are

Carolina Kostner (Italy)

Miki Ando (Japan)

Kanako Murakami (Japan)

Akiko Suzuki (Japan)

Rachael Flatt (USA)

Alissa Czisny (USA)

Nagasu may be slightly disappointed to narrowly miss the final but she now has extra training time and some extra confidence on her side to ready for Nationals in January. Mao Asada still has her work cut out to match her japanese competitors at their nationals in December.

TEB Men's

Takahiko Kozuka only had to be just good enough to make it into the Grand Prix Final - but instead he did so in style, setting the highest free skate score of all men this season (170.43) and now heads to Beijing as the top qualifier. Florent Amodio fought off the field to earn the highly contested final spot, meaning that the men's qualifiers for Beijing are-

1. Takahiko Kozuka JPN
2. Daisuke Takahashi JPN
3. Patrick Chan CAN
4. Tomas Verner CZE
5. Nobunari Oda JPN
6. Florent Amodio FRA
---
Three American skaters just missed out. 
7. Jeremy Abbott USA
8. Brandon Mroz USA
9. Adam Rippon USA

Brian Joubert withdrew from the competition before the free skate started, reportedly for medical reasons (suffering from gastroenteritis)

TEB - Pairs

The Pairs competition was the first to wrap up in Paris with the top two pairs wrapping up places for the Grand Prix final.  That means the final qualifiers are -

Savchenko/Szolkowy (Germany)

Bazarova/Larionov (Russia)

Pang/Tong (China)

Sui/Han (China)

Moore-Towers/Moscovitch (Canada)

Iliusechkina/Maisuradze (Russia)

According to Tony at Flutzing Around there is a chance that Sui & Han (who have qualified to the junior and senior finals) may choose to just compete junior. The first alternates are Takahashi & Tran (who also have qualified twice!) followed by the USA's Yankoskas & Coughlin.

TEB Pairs Results

Surprise leaders in Paris

No one saw Kiira Korpi coming! The Finnish beauty who was 4th at NHK trophy this year made her bid for a long shot entry to the Grand Prix Final. Mirai Nagasu is close behind in second (hopefully NOT being in first after the short programme will be a good thing for her!) Alissa Czisny is within reach of the medal that will secure her place in the final, and Mao Asada once again in the disappointing posistion of having to fight back up the rankings after her jumps betrayed her again. Her legs collapsed under her on the landing of her triple axel and a second fall on her triple toe dropped her down to 7th place.

The Men also have a battle on their hand to the final ticket to Beijing. Takahiko Kozuka leads the pack but it closely followed by Florent Amodio and Brandon Mroz. All 3 have a medal in the bag from the circuit already (gold, bronze and silver respectively). Brian Joubert singled the second jump of his combination and stepped out of his triple axel putting him well behind the pack in 5th behind fellow Frenchmen Amodio and Besseghier.

The Ice Dance competition went more according to plan with Pechalat & Bourzat taking the lead in front of a home crowd. The pair are virtually assured of a final place provided they step on the ice tomorrow.

 

See the full results here, competition wraps up tomorrow. 

Day 1 in Paris

Savchenko & Szolkowy (above) have taken a narrow lead in Paris (SP score 66.65) over russians Bazarova & Larionov (64.18). Both teams have medals in the bag from their first grand prix events and are looking to wrap up places in the final. Below the leaders there is a BIG points gap before 3rd place pair Hausch & Wende of Germany (54.02).

The competition continues tonight with Mens & Womens short programmes and the short dance.

According to onsite blogger 'patinaggio' (Europe on Ice) Mao Asada is planning an ambitious programme with a triple axel and triple loop-triple (or double) loop combination. If she can pull it off that should silence a few doubters!

Full results are available here.

I must apologise but my blogging over the next 3 weeks will be fairly minimal as I have med- school exams coming up!

Something to prove

In a post olympic season there are often big changes at the top and new talents have an opportunity to make a statement on the international stage. However, at Trophee Eric Bompard this week, 3 established names in the world of figure skating have demons to dispel and something big to prove.

Mao Asada had a disastrous outing at her first Grand Prix event this season, NHK. The reigning world champion would be expected to dominate, particularly in the absense of Kim Yu-Na, however Mao seems to have had trouble returning to form in her new coaching environment. Her programmes this year are much better suited to her than last season's, once again showcasing her lyrical quality, but her heavily relied on triple axel jump let her down and she has a limited arsenal of jumps to fall back on.
Mao has no chance to make the final this year but she will be looking to get her jumps and her confidence back before the Japanese Nationals in December. 3 other Japanese skaters (Miki Ando, Akiko Suzuki and Kanako Murakami) have qualified and unless she shows improvement, Mao may be at risk of being dropped from the World team and unable to defend her title.

Alissa Czisny comes to Paris in a different situation. Riding on a high from her recent win at Skate Canada she needs only a consistent skate and a medal of any colour to breeze into the final. Alissa has qualified for the Grand Prix final before (in 2005-6 just prior to the Turin olympic games) but has a reputation of being inconsistent when the pressure is on. A reputation she will be looking to shake off.

Mirai Nagasu is a young talented skater who seems to be constantly fighting obstacles, injuries and her own self belief. Mirai is still fighting her way back from a stress fracture of her ankle this season. At Cup of China (this year and last!) and at the recent world championships she rocked the short programme only to crumble in the free skate and miss out on a medal. Mirai is a very very long shot to make the final but what is more important for her is to put out two clean programmes and boost her own confidence heading to nationals. She has more than enough ability to make another world team this year but the competitive field of US ladies won't allow her any breathing room to make a mistake.

Alongside these 3, other contenders for a medal in Paris include Canadian Cynthia Phaneuf, Finland's Kiira Korpi, and Japanese veterain Fumie Suguri and newcomer Haruka Imai. France's own young talents Lena Marocco and Mae Berenice Miete will also be looking for good performances at home.

A quick round-up of the weekend

Plenty was happening over the weekend whilst I enjoyed a few days away from work and also the internet.

Full Twist has a great roundup of the Glasgow Gymnastics Grand Prix. 

In the Women'e event Ekaterina Kurbatova (Russia) won Vault, Wu Liufang (China) Bars and Lauren Mitchell (Australia) Beam and Floor. The British girls Hannah Whelan, Imogen Cairns and Jennifer Pinches all came away with medals. For the men Louis Smith won Pommel Horse and fellow brit Theo Seager took silver on vault. See the full Women's and Men's results here.

See Photos of the event on British Gymnastics' Facebook Page

Also over the weekend the Rostelecom Cup (Cup of Russia to most people) took place in Moscow, with some surprises in store.

Patrick Chan of Canada led the men after the short programme, but a fall on his quad in the free skate allowed Tomas Verner (Czech Republic) to come away with the gold. Miki Ando won the ladies gold after coming back from a 5th place short programme. Skate Canada silver medallist and home favourite Ksenia Makarova finished a disappointing 7th here and missed out on a trip to the Grand Prix final.

Russian pair Kavaguti & Smirnov showed they are successfully recovered from injury and won with ease, but as this is their only event they too will miss out on a final spot. By the free skate there were only 5 ice dance couples left in the competition after a number of withdrawals, Bobrova & Soloviev of Russia were the best couple still standing. View the full results here.

With that the placements for the final 6 in each discipline are almost wrapped up. A small selection of skaters including Takahito Kozuka (Japan), Alissa Czisny (USA), Pechalat & Bourzat (France) & Savchenko & Szolkowy (Germany) will be looking to wrap up tickets to the final at the final Grand Prix, Trophee Eric Bompard in Paris this week. You can view the current standings (and those still with a fighting chance) at Goldenskate.

More gymnastics.

China still remains unbeaten in their domination of the gymnastics at the Asian Games.

Women's Vault
1. Huang Quishuang
2. Rie Tanaka
3. Momoko Ozawa

Women's Bars
1. He Kexin (right)
2. Huang Quishuang
3. Koko Tsurumi
I was pleased to see Koko win a medal - she had a disappointing time at the world championships and didn't compete all around here.

On the Men's side
Zhang Chenlong took gold on floor
Teng Haibin on pommel horse
and Chen Yibing on rings

Full Twist has a full results report

Also this week the FIG announces the new skills added to the code of points after gymnasts debuted them at the worlds or other championships. Mostepanovafan has a montage of them here.

Mean it!

I've become a big fan of Kanako Murakami so far this season- she is a joy to watch and today I figured out why- every movement she does looks finished off and looks as if it happened for a reason- she draws you into the character of the piece and makes you believe she is loving it out there on the ice. This is a big thing coming from such a young and relatively inexperienced skater.

I noticed the difference when I watched one of my up-till-now favourite skaters, Caroline Zhang in her free skate. Caroline is working hard to improve her jump technique but it seems that her best qualities (spins and artistry) are slipping out the window at the same time. By contrast to Kanako her movements and transitions are somewhat meaningless and she looks disinterested in everything except getting to the next move.

I know it's early in the season and everyone is growing into their new programmes. But those who can get past the jumps and really perform are those who I think are set up for success. Of the americans Mirai Nagasu and Ashley Wagner are probably up there with performance quality and I look forward to seeing more as the season progresses. But for Miss Murakami, the sky might just be the limit!

Any skaters (or gymnasts for that matter!) you feel are particularly good or poor in this area? I appreciate all your comments and input. 

China rules the all around at Asian Games

Chinese gymnasts went 1-2 in both the men's and women's all around finals at the Asian games.

Women's
1. Sui Lu
2. Huang Quishang
3. Rie Tanaka (JPN)

Men's
1. Teng Haibin
2. Lu Bo
3. Hisashi Mizutori (JPN)

Skate America - Day 3 (A brief update)

It was expected that the ladies podium at Skate America might look similar to that at NHK. It does- except that the order is up ended. Carolina Kostner made costly mistakes in the free skate allowing Kanako Murakami to win her first Grand Prix gold! Rachael Flatt was consistent for silver.

In the Ice dance, gold went to Davis & White, silver to Crone & Poirier and bronze to the Shibutanis. The first 2 have definitely wrapped themselves up a place to the final and the Shibutanis just might with 2 bronzes.

Asian Games - moments

Below is a gallery of of the best pictures from the Asian Games so far (Getty/Daylife)

Yuliya Gureva (UZB) on Vault

 

Koko Tsurumi (JPN) on Beam

Yang Yilin (CHN) focuses on the beam 

The Vault judges watch Krystal Khoo Oon Hui of Singapore

Huang Quishang (CHN) on floor

Jo Hyun-joo (KOR) leaps on floor

Uzbekistan's bronze medallists - (L-R) Diana Karimdjanova,
Irina Volodchenko, Yuliya Goreva, Asai Saparbaeva,
Darya Elizarova and Luiza Galiulina

 

Team China - Asian Games Champions

Tumbles and Titles

It's quite the busy weekend in the wider world of Gymnastics.

The Trampolining and Tumbling world championships concluded with Gold and Silver to China in the women's trampoline (Li Dan took gold over team-mate Huang Shanshan) Rosie MacLennan of Canada took Bronze and GB's Bryony Page was just outside the medals in 4th.

China also took gold in the men's synchro (Xiao To & Dong Dong) ahead of France and Belarus. Ukraine's Viktor Kyforenko won the men's tumbling and Canada's Corissa Boychuk took home gold in the Women's double mini trampoline- Full results and reports here.

At the Gymnastics World Cup in Stuttgart Laura Mitchell dominated taking gold on Bars Beam and Floor. Imogen Cairns won gold on Vault. See results and a full report here.

The Chinese men easily won the team final at the Asian Games by almost 10 points over Japan with South Korea taking bronze. The chinese ladies also took gold with Japan second and Uzbekistan third. Results here and videos on youtube here.  

The Russian gymnasts have also been globetrotting this weekend. World Champion Aliya Mustafina and Youth Olympic Champion Viktoria Komova took gold on beam and bars respecively at the Italian grand prix. The pair will also compete in Japan at the Toyota cup in December and Komova becomes an international senior in January. Tatiana Nabieva won the all around, bars and vault at the Massila cup in France. Ksenia Afansyeva won floor and Aurelie Maussalena of France won beam.

Skate America Day 2

The numbers came back to bite Nobunari Oda in the Men's freeskate. He was penalized by the judges for too many triple jumps, meaning that his final combination (3S,2T,2Lo) counted for nothing. He would have been the winner by several points but had to settle for silver behind his countryman Daisuke Takahashi. American Armin Mahbanoozadeh was a surprise bronze medallist with a clean programme, capitalizing on the fact that Adam Rippon had big problems with his jumps. Rippon dropped to 7th in the freeskate and 4th overall.

In the Pairs event 2 young teams likely wrapped themselves up a place at the Grand Prix Final. Canada's Kirsten Moore-Towers & Dylan Moscovich earned earned their second silver and China's Wenjing Sui & Cong Han earned bronze, meaning they could become the first pair to compete at both the senior and junior grand prix final in the same season. Savchenko and Szolkowy took gold easily but their new Pink Panther programme is no match for last season's Out of Africa freeskate.

The Ice Dance competition is close after the short dance. Meryl Davis & Charlie White lead with 63.62 despite an error from White on their opening twizzles. "I was trying to break light speed; physics got in the way," he said after.  Close behind them are the two canadian pairs Crone & Poirier (60.41) and Weaver & Poje (59.48). Maia & Alex Shibutani are not out of the medal race, currently in 4th with 56.46.

Carolina Kostner leads the ladies, showing that consistency makes the difference. "Mini-Mao" Kanako Murakami is in second after singling her axel. Sweden's Joshi Helgesson skated her socks off to place third. America's best placement was Rachael Flatt, who is suffering a minor injury to her foot. She missed her combination here but is currently in 4th, still in reach of a medal and the Grand Prix Final. See the full results here.

Skate America - Day 1

Skate America began with the pairs and men's short programmes.

Former world champions Savchenko and Szolkowy made a solid season debut. They didn't get quite the audience reaction they might have hoped to their new programme. They lead (perhaps on the weight of their reputation). Canadian pair Moore-Towers & Moskovich were surprised with their silver medal at Skate Canada but slipped into second again here. Home favourites Denney & Barret sit in third and the young chinese Sui & Han are currently in forth, not too far away from a medal and qualifying for the final.

In the Men's event both Adam Rippon and Daisuke Takahashi skated well but with some errors in their jumps. Nobunari Oda was the last to skate and did so well with no jumping problems to leapfrog his rivals into first place, setting up a close battle in the free skate.

The competition continues today with the start of the Ladies and Dance events and medals handed out to the Pairs and Men. Follow live results here (ISU) and live blogging from Flutzing Around.

Also, on the other side of the World the Asian Games have started with a spectacular opening ceremony. I'll update on the gymnastics as results appear.

China, Russia, Portugal golden at T+T worlds

The first medals were handed out today at the Trampolining and Tumbling world championships in Metz.

In the Men's trampolining competition Dong Dong of China took gold over his team-mate Shuai Ye in a tiebreaker. The two ended on the same score but Dong had the higher execution score to clinch the gold.

GOLD : Dong Dong (CHN) - 43.100
SILVER : Shuai Ye (CHN) - 43.100
BRONZE : Yasuhiro Ueyama (JPN) - 42.400
4. Nikita Fedorenko (RUS) - 41.400
5. Dmitry Ushakov (RUS) - 41.300
6. Gregoire Pennes (FRA) - 41.300
7. Tetsuya Sotomura (JPN) - 41.300
8. Martin Gromowski (GER) - 9.000


Portugal's Andre Lico took gold in the 'blink-and-you'll-miss-it' sport of double mini trampoline.

GOLD : Andre Lico (POR) - 73.400
SILVER : Austin White (USA) - 73.000
BRONZE : Evgeny Chernoivanov (RUS) - 72.700
4. Alexander Renkert (USA) - 72.100
5. Jack Penny (AUS) - 70.700
6. Alejandro Ruiz-Cuevas Quintero (ESP) - 69.900
7. Alexander Seifert (CAN) - 68.600
8. Alexander Zebrov (RUS) - 60.400

Russia took gold in the Women's tumbling and women's syncro trampoline. For Russian tumbler Anna Korobeynikova this was her 4th consecutive world title and no-one could really come close. In the syncro competition the reigning champions from china ended up 8th after a mistake in the final - gold went to olympic champ Irina Karavieva and team-mate Victoria Voronina of Russia.


Women's tumbling
GOLD : Anna Korobeynikova (RUS) - 68.200
SILVER : Elena Krasnokutskaya (RUS) - 65.500
BRONZE : Marine Debauve (FRA) - 63.400
4. Yuliya Hall (USA) - 61.600
5. Zara McLean (GBR) - 61.400
6. Kyla Phillips (RSA) - 61.300
7. Karly Judkins (USA) - 60.000
8. Emily Smith (CAN) - 58.000

Women's synchro
GOLD : Irina Karavaeva / Victoria Voronina (RUS) - 47.500
SILVER : Carina Baumgärtner / Anna Dogonadze (GER) - 46.800
BRONZE : Tatiana Piatrenia / Katsiaryna Mironava (BLR) - 46.800
4. Mika Futagi / Ayana Yamada (JPN) - 46.200
5. Marine Jurbert / Marina Murinova (FRA) - 46.000
6. Ekaterina Khilko / Anna Savkina (UZB) - 45.100
7. Amanda Parker / Bryony Page (GBR) - 43.300
8. Xingping Zhong / Dan Li (CHN) - 42.500

Finals wrap up tomorrow - find more results and reports here (FIG)

Scores from Stuttgart

The women's qualifying has taken place at th DTB Pokal world cup in Stuttgart. Lauren Mitchell of Australia has topped qualifying on floor and beam with Imogen Cairns (GB) leading vault and Elizabeth Seitz (Germany) bars.

Here are the top scores on each apparatus. Men's qualificaition is taking place later today. Results and more info can be found on the event website here.

Vault
1. Imogen Cairns 13.862
2. Marakena Pinto Adasme 13.627
3. Jennifer Kwehla 13.587
4. Anna Dementyeva 13.525

Bars
1. Elizabeth Seitz 14.600
2. Anastasia Koval 14.100
3. Anna Dementyeva 13.750
4. Lauren Mitchell 13.725

Beam
1. Lauren Mitchell 14.875
2. Anastasia Koval 14.425
3. Hannah Whelan 13.650
4. Anna Dementyeva 13.425

Floor
1. Lauren Mitchell 14.250
2. Elizabeth Seitz 13.575
3. Anna Dementyeva 13.425
4. Irina Sazanova 13.025

Also coming up -
Pairs and Men's short programmes at Skate America tonight
The start of gymnastics at the Asian Games tomorrow
Tatiana Nabieva, Ksenia Semenova & Ksenia Afansyeva compete at the Massila invitational in Marseille this weekend (Link - IG)
More trampoling and tumbling!

Bounce!

The qualification stage of the World Trampolining and Tumbling Championships took place today in Metz, France. Undesputed on top of the pile in trampolining were the Chinese, taking the top 3 spots in both the men's and women's events. As with gymnastics however- only 2 from each country can make it through to finals. This meant that reigning olympic champion He Wenna just missed out on a spot in the final, finishing behind her team mates Huang Shan Shan and Li Dan.

I'm always impressed by the longevity of trampolinists. The events first olympic champion (from 2000) Irina Karaviaeva qualified just behind the chinese and is well in reach of a medal. British competitor Bryony Page also made it through to the final. In the Men's event Dong Dong and Ye Shuai of China were the top two making it through to finals.

Here are the results from day 1 - visit the FIG event page for more updates.

Women's Individual Trampoline

Men's Individual Trampoline

More goings on...

This weekend is a busy weekend for gymnastics as well as figure skating. Many of the world championships competitors are back in action after only a few weeks break.

Asian Games, Nov 12-27, Gouanzou, China. 

The Chinese team will be looking to dominate the gymnastics competition at the Asian Games. The teams are identical to those in Rotterdam and there is a chance they could sweep ALL the gold medals, particularly in the ladies event! North Korea have been barred from competing as part of the 2 year ban. Their main competition is likely to come in the form of the Japanese, including Koko Tsurumi but not world champion Kohei Uchimura. Of the Chinese gymnasts Jiang Yuyuan is the team captain and Yang Yilin is a torchbearer leading up to the opening ceremony. Read more here (International Gymanst).

World Cup, Nov 12-13, Stuttgard Germany

A number of world medallists will be back in action this week in Stuttgard, they include Floor world champion Lauren Mitchell, Anna Dementyeva of Russia, Germany's Phillip Boy and Brits Louis Smith, Jennifer Pinches, Hannah Whelan, Laura Edwards & the ever-busy Imogen Cairns. View the full roster here.

The final world cup event will be the following week in Glasgow.

Noticable by their absense from competion are the Romanian women. An article at IG reports that they are in busy in training at the olympic sports complex in Izvorani, gearing up for the pre-olympic season - read more here.

The Trampolining & Tumbling World Championships are taking place in Metz, France from tomorrow. Click here to go to the FIG event website with previews, articles and results.

Finally in an 'aaah' moment. British gymnast Becky Downie's little sister Ellie (Right) has won the british under 12 championship. Ellie is 11 and hopes to compete at the 2016 olympics in Rio de Janiero. Full Twist has more details here.