Bright young things

The ladies event at the junior world championships this year may be more competitive than the same event at senior worlds. As always in a post olympic year our attention shifts to the skaters that are setting their sites on the next olympics.

Here are some of those young ladies who will be facing off at Jr worlds in Korea.

Top row (L-R)- Adelina Sotnikova (RUS), Agnes Zawadski (USA), Elizaveta Tuktamisheva (RUS)

Bottom Row- Christina Gao (USA), Risa Shoji (JPN) and Courtney Hicks (USA)

Adelina Sotnikova (Russia, 14 years old)
Coach- Elena Buianova, CSKA Moskow
Choreographer - Tatiana Tarasova
Qualifications - 2 time Russian Champion, JGP champion
Top Skills - Triple Lutz-Triple Loop combination
Personal Best (ISU) 178.97 - JGP Austia 2010

Agnes Zawadski (USA, 16 years old)
Coach - Tom Zakrajsek, Broadmoor SC, Colorado Springs
Choreographer - Lori Nichol
Qualifications - 4th at US nationals, Jr World silver medallist
Top Skills - Triple Toe-Triple Toe combination
Personal Best (ISU) - 154.35 - Skate Canada 2010

Elizaveta Tuktamisheva (Russia, 14 years old)
Coach - Alexei Mishin, St Petersburg
Choreographer - Georgi Kovtun
Qualifications 3 time Russian Sr medallist, JGP Silver
Top Skills - Triple-triple, Triple Axel (at least in practice!)
Personal Best (ISU) - 172.78 - JGP Dresden 2010

Christina Gao (USA, 16 years old)
Coach - Brian Orser, Toronto Cricket Club
Choreographer - David Wilson
Qualifications - 5th US Nationals, JGP Bronze
Top Skills - Triple flip-triple toe
Personal Best (ISU) - 167.14 - JGP Austia 2010

Risa Shoji (Japan, 14 years old)
Coach - Naoki Shigematsu
Choreographer - Kenji Miyamoto (SP), Naoki Shigematsu (FS)
Qualifications - 5th Japan Nationals, JGP final - 4th
Top Skills - Triples, Double axel-triple toe
Personal best (ISU) - 155.23 - JGP Czech Republic 2010

Courtney Hicks (USA, 14 years old)
Coach - John Nicks, All Year FSC, California
Choreographer - Philllip Mills
Qualifications - US Junior champion 2011
Top Skills - Triple Flip-Triple toe
Personal Best - 173.22 (at US nationals)

Who would you pick for gold?

English Gymnastics - Junior Results

Liverpool's Rebecca Tunney won the junior ladies all-around title at the English championships today. Tunney, who competed for the GB team at the Junior Europeans in Birmingham last year is still not age eligible for senior competition this year but is making a strong case to be a 4th Liverpool gymnast on the team for London 2012 (she trains alongside Beth Tweddle, Hannah Whelan and Jennifer Pinches). Her strong overall score of 53.850 was well ahead of the field, aided by an impressive 14.100 on vault.

Russia: beam and floor finals

The final day of event finals wrapped up in Penza today.

Beam
1. Anna Dementyeva 15.500
2. Marya Dunayev 15.100
3. Julia Belokobylskaya 14.750
(4. Viktoria Komova 14.075)

Floor
1. Julia Belokobylskaya 14.575
2. Anna Dementyeva 14.375
3. Julia Inshina 14.100

Please forgive any spelling errors due to me or google translate!

The WOGA legacy

Aunt Joyce has posted a link to a short video documentary on WOGA gymnast and 6-time world medallist Rebecca Bross. The documentary by Trans World Sport draws paralells on her journey with that of Nastia Liukin and Carly Patterson heading into London 2012. There aren't many surprises in this video profile but they give an insight into the training of this focused athlete. Nastia gives her own praise of Rebecca as a training partner.

You can also view Trans World Sports documentaries on Nastia herself from 2006 and 2009.

Russian Championships- Vault & Bars finals

Tatiana Nabieva won both event finals today at the Russian nationals in Penza.

Vault:
1. Tatiana Nabieva - 14.475
2. Anna Pavlova - 14.413
3. Alena Polyan – 13.850

Uneven Bars:
1. Tatiana Nabieva - 15.600
2. Anna Dementyeva – 14.725
3. Viktoria Komova - 14.525

Link - Between the Olympics

English Gymnastics - Senior results

 Hannah Whelan added the English all-around title to her British title from last summer. The teen from Liverpool, who will compete at the American Cup next week scored an impressive 56.600 all-around total. Her Liverpool teammate Jennifer Pinches was close behind. Danusia Francis of Heathrow gymnastics was 3rd despite fighting injuries.  Beth Tweddle competed an impressive bar routine to score 15.750 but managed a weak 13.900 on floor. Nicole Hibbert (who will also compete at the American cup) competed on 3 events.

Russian Championships - Team results

Rewriting Russian Gymnastics posted the results of the women's team competition at Russian Nationals.

1   Central  (Komova, Pavlova, Inishina, Dementieva, Kruglikova, Stepanova)  174.95
2   Moscow  (Mustafina, Komova, Myzdrikova, Novikova, Syrinkova, Chibiskova) 171.132
3   PFO (Volga Federal District?)  (Dementieva, Telitsina, Skorodumova, Polyan, Lavrushina, Smirnova)  164.4
4  St Petersburg  (Sazonova, Nabieva, Sapronova, Terenteva, Krylova, Zemskova (did not compete)) 162.6

English Gymnastics: Tinkler wins espoir title.

Amy Tinkler of South Durham gymnastics won the espoir title at the English gymnastics championships in Stoke on Trent today. The results here go a long way toward the selection of  young talent to the National team. The seniors compete tomorrow afternoon and the juniors on Sunday. Results at British Gymnastics

4 Brits headed to American Cup

 With several last minute withdrawals the line-up for the American Cup (taking place March 5) has been shuffled around a bit, with the upside (at least from my point of view) of now including 2 british men and 2 british ladies.

The 16 gymnast field is now made up of:

Men

• USA: Jonathan Horton, Houston
• France: Cyril Tommasone
• Germany: Philipp Boy
• Great Britain: Samuel Hunter
• Great Britain: Daniel Purvis
• Japan: Koji Uematsu
• Russia: Sergey Khorokhordin
• Ukraine: Mykola Kuksenkov

Women

• USA: Alexandra Raisman
• Australia: Lauren Mitchell
• China: Huang Quishuang
• Great Britain: Nicole Hibbert
• Great Britain: Hannah Whelan
• Russia: Aliya Mustafina
• Switzerland: Ariella Kaeslin
• Venezuela: Jessica Lopez

Also keeping british gymnasts busy, the 2011 English Championships take place this weekend in Stoke-on-Trent. Beth Tweddle is due to compete. Going for Gold will have results up as soon as possible.

Denney & Barrett split

2010 US pairs skating champions and olympians Caydee Denney & Jeremy Barrett have announced the end of their partnership.

26 year old Barrett plans to retire from competitive skating and move on to coaching and shows.

17 year old Denney plans to find a new partner ready for next season.

Any suggestions for her new man??

Dementyeva wins Russian Championships

Rewriting Russian Gymnastics has posted a link to podium training images of the Russian Championships, taking place in Penza, 21-27 February.

According to the (allbeit translated) results, 2011 world team member Anna Dementyeva won the all-around (score: 58.050) ahead of 2-time olympian Anna Pavlova (score: 56.200) . Young star Viktoria Komova competed on 3 events, missing vault but posting a collossal 16.700 on bars (how??)

Of other famous names, Tatiana Nabieva competed vault and bars only. Aliya Mustafina and Anastasia Grishina were not in the line-up.

The event continues with a team event and individual apparatus finals later this week.

Click here to view the event website in English (via google translate) or in the original Russian. 

2011 Grand Prix Final- Quebec City

Today Skate Canada announced that Quebec City will host the 2011 Grand Prix Final. The city hosted the Skate Canada international in 2007 (incidentally the first major ice skating competition I ever attended).

"It’s very exciting for Skate Canada to be holding another ISU event. The ISU Grand Prix Final draws from the best in the world and with significant prize money at stake we can expect the competition to be fierce," said William Thompson, Skate Canada CEO. "Quebec City is a beautiful location with a vibrant culture and I know the international skating community will be welcomed with open arms."

When Skate Canada was held in Quebec in '07 the skaters were treated to a 5 star stay at the iconic Chateau Frontenac hotel. Skaters this time around will likely also look forward to a special competition experience.

As in recent years, the Junior Grand Prix Final will also be taking place. In total, there will be 56 entries and 84 skaters taking part in the event. Canada’s Patrick Chan is the current men’s champion, winning the ISU Grand Prix Final title in Beijing, China in December 2010.

Figure Skating - Worlds Preview

With the last major competition before the world championships wrapping up it's time to look ahead to Tokyo and make a few predictions.

Below are the top 6 ISU season's best scores in each discipline (or more if those in the top 6 are not expected to be at Worlds. Barring surprises, the medallists should come from amongst these..... But what's life without a few surprises!

Ladies

1. Miki Ando (Japan) 201.34 @ 4 Continents
2. Mao Asada (Japan) 196.30 @ 4 Continents

3. Mirai Nagasu (USA) 189.46 @ 4 Continents
              (NOT ON WORLD TEAM)

4. Alissa Czisny (USA) 180.75 @ Grand Prix Final
5. Rachael Flatt (USA) 180.31 @ 4 Continents

6. Adelina Sotnikova (Russia) 178.97 @ JGP Austria
              (TOO YOUNG FOR WORLDS)

7. Carolina Kostner (Italy) 178.60 @ Grand Prix Final
8. Kanako Murakami (Japan) 178.59 @ Grand Prix Final

But don't rule out..... Olympic Champ Yu-Na Kim

Men

1. Patrick Chan (Canada) 259.75 @ Grand Prix Final
2. Takahiko Kozuka (Japan) 248.07 @ TEB
3. Daisuke Takahashi (Japan) 244.00 @ 4 Continents
4. Nobunari Oda (Japan) 242.81 @ Grand Prix Final

5. Adam Rippon (USA) 233.04 @ Skate Canada
                  (NOT ON WORLD TEAM)

6. Tomas Verner (Czech Republic) 230.31 @ Skate Canada
7. Florent Amodio (France) 229.38 @ TEB

But don't rule out..... A rejuvenated Brian Joubert

Pairs

1. Savchenko & Szolkowy (Germany) 210.72 @ Grand Prix Final
2. Kavaguti & Smirnov (Russia) 203.61 @ Europeans
3. Pang & Tong (China) 199.45 @ 4 Continents
4. Bazarova & Larionov (Russia) 188.24 @ Europeans
5. Duhamel & Radford (Canada) 181.79 @ 4 Continents

6. Sui & Han (China) 179.04 @ Grand Prix Final
                  (DOUBTFUL FOR WORLDS - AGE CONTROVERSY)

7. Iliushechkina & Maisuradze (Russia) 177.44 @ GP Final
                   (? NOT ON WORLD TEAM)

8. Moore-Towers & Moscovitch (Canada) 175.48 @ Skate America

But don't rule out.... Russian Champs Volosozhar & Trankov who had to miss out on competing at Euros (it had been less than a year since Volosozhar competed for Ukraine) but will be at Worlds.

Dance

1. Davis & White (USA) 172.03 @ 4 Continents
2. Pechalat & Bourzat (France) 167.40 @ Europeans
3. Bobrova & Soloviev (Russia) 161.14 @ Europeans
4. Kerr & Kerr (GB) 157.49 @ Europeans
5. Shibutani & Shibutani (USA) 155.38 @ 4 Continents

6. Monko & Khaliavin (Russia) 155.04 @ JGP Sheffield
                  (? STILL JUNIORS)

7. Crone & Poirier (Canada) 154.42 @ Skate Canada

But don't rule out.... Virtue & Moir (if she can get past her injuries)

Any other picks or sentimental favourites you'd like to see do well in Tokyo?

Miki Ando breaks 200pt barrier, wins 4CC gold.

Miki Ando went out there and hit everything in a technically packed programme to win Four Continents gold. Silver went to a virtuoso effort from Mao Asada and bronze to Mirai Nagasu.

If you were following my live blogging on twitter you would see I was slightly miffed by the result. All credit to Miki but she goes out there and skates business-like. Everything is 'good' but little is 'special'. But hitting a clean program with 6 triples is an achievment however you look at it. Miki scored personal bests of 134.76 in the free and 201.34 overall.

Another person who hit a personal best was Mirai Nagasu. Without the pressure of being in first she came out and hit every jump and every spin, earning a standing ovation and a free-skate score of 129.68. Whilst I would not condone US figure skating changing their Worlds lineup- it seems such a shame not to send her. I can't see Rachael Flatt winning a world title but I can see Mirai doing so.

Flatt and Czisny placed 4th and 5th respectively with Canada's Cynthia Phaneuf finishing 6th. Czisny fell on her 2nd jump (a 3 Flip) whilst she didn't dissolve into her previous Czisny form, the rest of the programme was a struggle and not the form that won her the GP final and national title. Phaneuf too was not perfect but at least finished with a smile and looks to be building to Worlds.

Mao was last on the ice and after Miki's score we (and maybe she) knew she would have to bring her A game. She hit a beautiful clean triple axel but chose not to risk it with another one. She hit 7 triples (with one called up for under-rotation). It was great to see a smile on the reigning olympic silver medallist's face again. Like I wrote on twitter, I would have given her the gold. But I'm not an ISU judge.

FPl.	Name	Nation	Points	SP	FS
1	Miki ANDO	JPN	201.34	1	1
2	Mao ASADA	JPN	196.30	2	2
3	Mirai NAGASU	USA	189.46	4	3
4	Rachael FLATT	USA	180.31	3	4
5	Alissa CZISNY	USA	168.81	5	5
6	Cynthia PHANEUF	CAN	163.14	7	6
7	Akiko SUZUKI	JPN	162.59	6	7
8	Min-Jeong KWAK	KOR	147.15	8	8
9	Amelie LACOSTE	CAN	137.48	9	9
10	Cheltzie LEE	AUS	127.90	10	10
11	Myriane SAMSON	CAN	121.20	11	11
12	Yea-Ji YUN	KOR	111.86	12	12
13	Bingwa GENG	CHN	104.58	13	16
14	Qiuying ZHU	CHN	102.38	16	15
15	Lejeanne MARAIS	RSA	101.90	19	13
16	Chae-Hwa KIM	KOR	101.79	17	14
17	Victoria MUNIZ	PUR	99.40	15	17
18	Melinda WANG	TPE	96.15	14	18
19	Mimi Tanasorn CHINDASOOK	THA	91.54	18	20
20	Jaimee NOBBS	AUS	89.93	20	19
21	Crystal KIANG	TPE	86.60	21	21
22	Mericien VENZON	PHI	84.17	22	22
23	Melanie SWANG	THA	82.08	23	23
24	Chaochih LIU	TPE	78.28	24	24

Marine Brevet, Katelyn Ohashi win at WOGA Classic

As always seems the way- Ohashi's Junior score was higher than Brevet's winning senior score. 

Jordyn Wieber posted the highest score on bars, but the fact she didn't compete Vault or floor suggests she is still recovering from injuries.

No sign of Ivana Hong or Grace McLaughlin, they both pulled out before the event, reportedly not quite ready to compete.


 Senior Results

Rank	Num	Name Gym		Vault	Bars	Beam	Floor	AA
1	1389	Marine Brevet France		13.900 2	13.750 3T	14.350 1	13.250 3	55.250 1
2	1394	Brandie Jay GK's		14.500 1	13.750 3T	13.050 6	12.900 4	54.200 2
3	1416	Briley Casanova WOGA		13.650 4T	13.400 6	13.800 3	13.300 2	54.150 3
4	1415	Sophia Lee WOGA		13.750 3	12.950 7	14.200 2	12.750 6	53.650 4
5	1402	Anysia Unick Stampede		13.400 7	13.750 3T	12.800 7T	13.600 1	53.550 5
6	1385	Madeline Gardiner Cambridge Kips		13.600 6	12.000 8T	13.750 4	12.800 5	52.150 6
7	1219	Mira Boumejmajen France		12.800 8	14.450 2	12.350 10	12.350 7	51.950 7
8	1417	Brenda Areli Medina Navarro Gym Areba		12.350 9	9.700 11	11.350 11	11.600 8	45.000 8
9	1405	Alexa Moreno UABC		13.650 4T	11.950 10	12.700 9	0.000 9T	38.300 9
10	1399	Bianca Dancase-Giamattisto Richelieu		12.100 10	12.000 8T	12.800 7T	0.000 9T	36.900 10
11	1421	Jordyn Wieber Geddert's Twistars		0.000 11	14.900 1	13.600 5	0.000 9T	28.500 11

Junior results

Rank	Num	Name Gym		Vault	Bars	Beam	Floor	AA
1	1411	Katelyn Ohashi WOGA		13.450 9	14.500 1	15.900 1	13.000 9	56.850 1
2	1330	Madison Kocian WOGA		14.950 1	12.300 7	14.850 2	14.500 1	56.600 2
3	1403	Arianna Guerra Stars Houston		14.300 3	13.650 3T	14.050 4	13.400 4T	55.400 3
4	1387	Mackenzie Brannan Capital TX		13.900 6T	13.650 3T	13.400 6	12.800 10	53.750 4
5	1386	Victoria Moors Cambridge Kips		13.900 6T	13.200 5T	13.150 8	13.400 4T	53.650 5
6	1413	Lizzy LeDuc WOGA		13.300 11	11.500 12	14.400 3	13.650 3	52.850 6
7	1390	Anne Kuhm France		13.400 10	13.800 2	12.300 11	13.300 7	52.800 7
8	1420	Samantha Partyka Champion TX		14.200 4	11.950 8	13.300 7	11.750 13	51.200 8
9	1393	Claire Hammen GK's		13.100 12	11.850 9	12.350 10	13.200 8	50.500 9
10	1408	Mykayla Skinner Desert Lights		14.500 2	11.550 11	12.850 9	11.550 14	50.450 10
11	1400	Irina Yashina Russia		13.500 8	13.200 5T	10.000 14	13.400 4T	50.100 11
12	1401	Anastasiya Marchuk Russia		11.400 15	11.800 10	13.550 5	11.800 12	48.550 12
13	1392	Doraine Throbie France		11.600 14	10.650 13	12.050 12	13.800 2	48.100 13
14	1396	Isis Lowery JETS Australia		11.850 13	10.350 14	11.450 13	11.900 11	45.550 14
15	1404	Ericha Fassbender Stars Houston		14.000 5	0.000 15	0.000 15	0.000 15	14.000 15

Takahashi takes gold in Taipei

Olympic bronze medallist Daisuke Takahashi was uncatchable in Taipei City with a 7 point lead after the short programme and a seasons best 160 points in the free skate. His total score of of 244.00 has been beaten by only Patrick Chan (259.75 at the Grand Prix Final) and Takahiko Kozuka (248.07 at Trophee Bompard) this season.

Chan chose to forego 4 Continents in order to get ready for Worlds. Silver went to Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan and bronze to Jeremy Abbott who so very narrowly missed out on the US world team. Kozuka was second in the free skate but couldn't make up for his disappointing 6th place short programme and finished 4th overall. Look had he not botched his combination jump there, the japanese men would have easily swept the podium in Taipei.

Pl.	Name	Nation	Points	SP	FS
1	Daisuke TAKAHASHI	JPN	244.00	1	1
2	Yuzuru HANYU	JPN	228.01	3	3
3	Jeremy ABBOTT	USA	225.71	2	4
4	Takahiko KOZUKA	JPN	223.52	6	2
5	Adam RIPPON	USA	210.01	4	5
6	Jinlin GUAN	CHN	201.98	9	6
7	Armin MAHBANOOZADEH	USA	200.67	5	9
8	Jialiang WU	CHN	199.78	10	7
9	Nan SONG	CHN	195.13	12	8
10	Shawn SAWYER	CAN	192.94	7	10
11	Kevin REYNOLDS	CAN	191.55	8	11
12	Misha GE	UZB	182.06	13	12
13	Abzal RAKIMGALIEV	KAZ	180.75	11	13
14	Joey RUSSELL	CAN	171.18	14	15
15	Min-Seok KIM	KOR	168.59	15	14
16	Mark WEBSTER	AUS	143.54	16	16
17	Jordan JU	TPE	134.33	18	17
18	Brendan KERRY	AUS	125.64	17	19
19	Wun-Chang SHIH	TPE	120.96	19	18
20	Stephen Li-Chung KUO	TPE	117.96	20	20