GPF 2006

The USA came away with no medals at the ISU Grand Prix Final this weekend. No US ladies qualified for the final, both US men (Evan Lysacek and Johnny Weir) withdrew during the competition with similar hip injuries, Rena Inoue & John Baldwin finished 4th in pairs, and Gregory & Petukhov came in 6th in dance (Belbin & Agosto had withdrawn prior to the event). Oh well. Hopefully everyone will be back in form for US Nationals and Worlds!

Michelle Kwan, US Ambassador

Michelle Kwan has been named Public Diplomacy Ambassador for the United States.

Excerpt:

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice named Michelle Kwan, the Hong Kong-born US figure-skating superstar, as Washington's first Public Diplomacy Ambassador tasked with promoting American values around the world.

Kwan, a two-time Olympic medalist and the most decorated figure-skater in US history, will visit China early next year on the first mission of her non-salaried career as goodwill envoy, Rice said.

What a neat honor for Michelle!

Edit: Here's the USFS story about the announcement.

A year off for Michelle Kwan

U.S. Figure Skating recently confirmed that Michelle Kwan will sit out the 2006-07 skating season to recover from hip surgery and focus on her college studies at Denver University. I'm a big fan of Michelle's skating so I'll miss her presence on the competitive skating scene this season, but she's been at it for so long that she deserves a break. :) I don't know if we'll ever see her compete at U.S. Nationals, Worlds, or Olympics again, but hopefully she'll at least participate in some exhibitions or pro-am type events once her hip recovers.

Michelle Kwan's salad days

Michelle Kwan is featured in a new commercial for Kraft salad dressing. Here's a link to the ad on YouTube: Michelle's triple combination salad

Hello world

Welcome to Sk8around, my new skating site! I've transferred over most of the content from my old skating site on Tripod. I felt it was time for some new digs, and Blogger makes it fairly simple to add new pages and photos. Links to my posts by subject and date can be found in the sidebar (I have "backdated" my posts according to the date the corresponding page was last updated on my former skating site). Also check out the Flickr badge in the sidebar that features skating-related photos I have taken. Finally, links to interesting and informative skating resources can also be found in the sidebar.

I have to say, this past skating season (2005-06) was a bit of a letdown for me. I don't know if it was due to Code of Points making the programs all kind of same-y and uninteresting, or the lack of extensive tv coverage of the Grand Prix events, or the injuries to some of my favorite skaters, but I just didn't feel as invested in skating this year. Which is ironic since it was an Olympic year!

OTOH, I did get to attend my first-ever US national championships in St. Louis in January. I had a great time. You can read about it in more detail in my post about the event. Congratulations to all the USFS skaters who competed, and who went on to represent the USA at Four Continents, Olympics, and Worlds.

Anyway, thanks for visiting, and I hope to add more content here as the next skating season gets underway!

2006 U.S. Figure Skating Championships

I attended my very first U.S. Figure Skating Championships in St. Louis this year! I saw the Senior Ladies SP and all four senior LPs. While I was disappointed that my favorite skater, Michelle Kwan, was forced to withdraw with an injury, the skating was still very enjoyable, and there were several wonderful performances from not only the winners and medalists, but many of the lower-ranked skaters as well. I also got to meet some fellow skate fans who I previously had only "known" via the internet skating message board that I visit, which was very cool.

Here are photos I took of the winners of the senior events:


Inoue & Baldwin 


Belbin & Agosto 


Johnny Weir 


Sasha Cohen 

More photos can be found in my Flickr album, and other details about my St. Louis trip are on my travelblog.

I had a blast and I hope I will have the opportunity to attend another Nationals in the future!