2008 Skate America

I had the opportunity to attend part of the 2008 Skate America competition in Everett, WA, last weekend. I saw the ladies' short program and men's free skate on Saturday, October 25, and the free dance and ladies' free skate on Sunday. Here are my general impressions from the event:

• Yu-Na Kim (KOR) who won the ladies event had a very large and vocal following in the arena! She skated well, although I was surprised that she won the short program by such a large margin considering she had a mistake on her double axel. Her long program was very good, marred only by a popped triple loop.

• The Japanese ladies, Yukari Nakano and Miki Ando, who came in second and third place respectively, both had errors in the short but skated very well in the long. Coincidentally, both skated to selections of music from "Giselle" for their long programs; Nakano's had a lighter, more balletic feel, while Ando's program was more dramatic. I preferred Nakano's program.

• The Americans, Rachael Flatt, Mirai Nagasu, and Kimmie Meissner, all have some work to do to be more competitive internationally. Meissner had the best "command of the ice" of the three, but she had disruptive falls on jumps in both programs. Nagasu has a sparkle that Flatt lacks, but Flatt skates with a bit more maturity.

• The crowd was very supportive of all the skaters. Poor Annette Dytrt of Germany fell on her first three jumps in the long program and the crowd did its best to lift her spirits, and gave her a warm ovation at the end.

• The men's event was very close, and I thought Evan Lysacek (USA) had done enough to win (and he certainly got the biggest ovation from the crowd), but he only ended up in third behind Takahiko Kozuka (JPN) and Johnny Weir (USA). Lysacek apparently had some jumps and other elements downgraded.

• My favorite long program of the men's event was Shawn Sawyer's (CAN). Although he missed or scaled down a couple of jumps, he skated with a lot of style and his line and stretch were exceptional. Some of his spin and spiral positions would have made Sasha Cohen envious. ;)

• Ice dancing is not my favorite discipline, but there were a couple of fun programs among the free dances here. Emily Samuelson & Evan Bates (USA) had the most entertaining free dance; they finished fourth overall but were third in the free. The winners, Isabel Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder (FRA) had an interesting free dance set to music by Pink Floyd, and I also liked the whimsical free dance of Americans Jane Somerset and Todd Gilles. Tanith Belbin & Ben Agosto (USA) skated very well, winning the free and finishing second overall, but I found their "Tosca" free dance to be rather flat.

I took several photos from the Saturday evening events; my camera unfortunately broke just prior to the free dance, so all I have from Sunday's events are a couple of crappy camera phone pics. :P

In addition to the skating, I also had the pleasure of meeting some skating fans I previously only "knew" from online, plus one skatefan who I had met at 2006 US Nationals in St. Louis. This was the first international skating competition I ever attended and it was an enjoyable time overall. Here's hoping that this coming skating season will be more interesting than the last few have been!

2008 Worlds

This post is very belated, but here are my impressions on the 2008 World Figure Skating Championships that took place last month:

• Kudos to Johnny Weir for finally skating well enough to win a world medal and keeping the US team from leaving Gothenburg empty-handed! The other US men (Jeremy Abbott and Stephen Carriere) also skated well, and secured three places for the USA at next year's Worlds.
  
• The US ladies, on the other hand, had their weakest showing in years. Still, Kimmie Meissner came back from her devastating performance at US Nationals with a solid SP and decent LP to finish 7th at Worlds. Bebe Liang managed to hang on to a respectable 10th place, while Ashley Wagner struggled a bit and finished 16th.
• Jeffrey Buttle skated a gorgeous LP to win his first World title. I wasn't sure if it would be enough to stay ahead of an also-impressive program by Brian Joubert, but Buttle's more intricate program won it for him.
• Bummer for Belbin & Agosto to finish 4th. Their free dance is one of the most beautiful ones I've seen in the past several years. It's too bad they struggled so much in the CD and OD.
  
• I missed all of the pairs competition (oops).
• It was a bittersweet end to ABC's run of covering Worlds. Hopefully whoever picks up the broadcast rights for the US will do as good of a job as the ABC team did.

Lysacek withraws from Worlds

U.S. champ Evan Lysacek has withdrawn from the World Championships due to an injury suffered in training. He'll be replaced by Jeremy Abbott. Evan's withdrawal will put even more pressure on Johnny Weir and Stephen Carriere (as well as Abbott) to secure a high-enough placement for the U.S. to send three men to next year's Worlds. Let's hope they can step up!

2008 USFS Championships - Senior Men

What an amazing finish to the senior men's event! I mean, c'mon, with the "precision" offered by COP, how likely is it that the top two would end up with the exact same total score? Personally, I thought Johnny Weir skated a stronger, more secure program in the free skate (his flow and edge quality were wonderful), but Evan Lysacek did have visibly more complex spins and transitions, so I can see how Evan's program could have scored higher, thus giving him the overall win.

Similarly, I preferred the free skate of 4th place Jeremy Abbott over that of bronze medalist Stephen Carriere. Both programs were well-constructed (though very different stylistically). I felt that Jeremy had better flow and power over the ice, but Stephen had very secure jumps and again, more complexity throughout the program. Ryan Bradley as always skated a fun, engaging program. It's too bad he couldn't hit his most difficult jump elements.

Overall, I think NBC did a decent job covering the championships, but as ever, there was too much time devoted to fluff pieces and segments on "the rivalry" (ooo) which could have been better used showing another program or two in each discipline. Commentary-wise, I enjoy Scott Hamilton's enthusiasm, but I think casual viewers would learn almost nothing from his and Sandra Bezic's play-by-play. I felt Tracy Wilson did a better job of explaining what the judges are looking for during the ice dance coverage.

Watching this weekend's broadcasts makes me want to see another competitive skating event in person. Maybe Skate America in the fall... :)

2008 USFS Championships - Senior Pairs, Dance, Ladies

I caught the NBC broadcasts of the 2008 U.S. Figure Skating Championships today. Here are some of my quick-hit thoughts:

• It was a bold gesture for John Baldwin to propose to Rena Inoue at the conclusion of their pairs free skate, in front of the audience in the arena and the television viewers. What if she had wanted to say "no"? :)
• Tanith Belbin & Ben Agosto's free dance was gorgeous and skated with such attack. I hope they can repeat this performance at the World Championships and take home the gold. Meryl Davis & Charlie White's second place performances at Nationals could also challenge for the podium at Worlds. I typically have liked Navarro & Bommentre, but their free dance here lacked energy.
  
• I'm heartbroken for Kimmie Meissner. It must have been so hard for her to keep skating after three big falls in her free skate. Her programs this year were a step up from last season's, and it's too bad she couldn't deliver the technical content. Hopefully next season she can return to form and challenge for the top spots at Nationals and Worlds again.
• It'll be interesting to see whether USFS names Meissner to the World team. Based on standings here, she's only the fourth-ranked age-eligible competitor, behind Ashley Wagner, Bebe Liang, and Katrina Hacker, all of whom would be first-timers at Worlds. I wonder if USFS would send Kimmie due to her experience at the world level.
  
• Caroline Zhang skated beautifully in the free skate, but she was soooo slow throughout much of the program. I think this hurt her in the short program as well. Her jumping technique on the lutz and flip is also troublesome, but I'm hoping she'll be able to fix that as she gets older and stronger.
• It was great to see Michelle Kwan during the fluff piece on Zhang. Interestingly, I think Caroline skates more like Sasha Cohen than Michelle, at least in terms of her style of movement. :)
• Caroline Zhang, Ashley Wagner, Rachel Flatt, and Mirai Nagasu all skated wonderfully in the long. I was especially impressed with Nagasu's speed and flow over the ice. I think I like Katrina Hacker's overall quality of skating better than all of the above, though. I particularly loved her air position in her jumps. I also really like Alissa Czisny's skating, but she had too many jump problems in the free to move up from her SP placement.
  
• It was cool to see a couple of Filipino-American skaters do well enough to make the tv broadcasts: Amanda Evora (finished 5th in pairs with Mark Ladwig) and Melissa Bulanhagui (8th in senior ladies).
  

Here's hoping tomorrow's mens' free skate offers as much drama as today's competitions did. :)

Christopher Bowman, 1967-2008

I was saddened to learn of the death of Christopher Bowman, former US figure skating champ and two-time world medalist. I became a skating fan in 1988, just as Bowman was gaining prominence in the sport. He was an erratic competitor but always entertaining. It's too bad he couldn't quite get his life together after he left competitive skating. RIP, Bowman the Showman.