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.

So long, farewell COI

It has been reported that the Champions on Ice tour has been cancelled. It will effectively be merging with the rival tour, Stars on Ice. I have attended a number of Champions on Ice (formerly Tour of Champions) shows in Chicago and enjoyed seeing the top "eligibles" perform alongside seasoned pros, and I typically preferred the simpler style of COI to the more theme-y SOI. Alas! To be honest I haven't been as into the figure skating scene the past couple of seasons, but it still saddens me that interest in the sport has dropped so much from its heyday just a decade ago. Hopefully some new stars will emerge by the time the next Olympics rolls around, to draw audiences back to the sport.

NBC to broadcast USFS events

U.S. Figure Skating has signed a three-year deal with NBC to broadcast the national championships and Skate America.

Chicago Tribune article
L.A. Times article

I suppose I'm glad that at least *someone* has picked up the rights to broadcast U.S. figure skating events for the next few seasons. For a while after ABC/ESPN didn't renew their agreement, it was looking like skating would be relegated to webcasts (or YouTube, heh). I wonder if NBC or another major network is thinking of picking up the broadcast rights for ISU events as well, after that contract with ABC expires next year.

2007 Worlds

Well, the 2007 World Figure Skating Championships have come and gone. Some new stars emerged in the post-Olympic year, such as Mao Asada (JPN) and Yu-na Kim (KOR) in ladies' singles, and Virtue & Moir (CAN) and Davis & White (USA) in dance. Belbin & Agosto captured the bronze again at this Worlds... who'd have thought that the USA would get its only medal in *ice dance*?! Kimmie Meissner performed fairly well but couldn't keep up with new champ Miki Ando, Mao, and Yu-Na. Evan Lysacek, Johnny Weir, and Ryan Bradley all had problems in the men's event, and Inoue & Baldwin and Castile & Okolski struggled in pairs. Hopefully the USA will have better luck at next year's Worlds!