Indholdsfortegnelse for November/December 2019 i International Figure Skating

As we go to print, the senior Grand Prix Series is just around the corner. Skaters competing at the elite level have a lot to live up to this season, given what took place on the 2019 Junior Grand Prix circuit. All seven events of that Series produced outstanding performances, with records broken and history made at a number of stops. What a way to start the season! With just two years until the 2022 Olympic Winter Games, a number of these young stars will be vying for places on their respective national teams. “Catch us if you can” could easily become the defining phrase next season when many from this talented group move into the senior ranks. The Junior Final will be live streamed on the ISU YouTube Channel.…

Maria Petrova and Alexei Tikhonov Captured more than medals and titles during their nine-year competitive career. Their warm and personable approach made them fan favorites around the globe, and more than a few tears were shed when the Russian duo announced they were hanging up their competitive skates in 2007. Theirs was a pairing few expected would ever rise to the top of the world. When Maria Petrova and Alexei Tikhonov teamed up in 1998 at ages 20 and 26, respectively, both had tasted success at various levels with different partners Petrova’s career first blossomed in the junior ranks. Paired with Anton Sikharulidze in the early 1990s, the duo won back-to-back World Junior titles in 1994 and 1995. Sikharulidze ended the partnership in 1996 to skate with Elena Berezhnaia. Tikhonov…

Chongqing The second half of the 2019 Grand Prix Series opens in the southwestern Chinese city of Chongqing. Vincent Zhou of the U.S., the reigning World bronze medalist, headlines the men’s field. His main competition will come from China’s Boyang Jin, who was impressive in his runaway victory at Lombardia Trophy in mid-September. Other medal contenders include Canada’s Keegan Messing, the bronze medalist at Autumn Classic International; Italy’s Matteo Rizzo, third at Lombardia Trophy, and South Korea’s Jun-Hwan Cha. China’s Han Yan, who announced his retirement in mid-2018, is back on the circuit and will make his Grand Prix comeback at this competition. Elizabet Tursynbaeva of Kazakhstan, along with Russia’s Elizaveta Tuktamysheva and Anna Shcherbakova headline the ladies field. Shcherbakova, who will come armed with a quad Lutz, defeated Tuktamysheva…

The death of Tom Collins on Sept. 1 brought an end to one of the most memorable chapters in the history of figure skating tours. Collins, the mastermind behind Champions on Ice, a show that ran for more than two decades, passed away at his home in Edina, Minneapolis. He was 88. “We lost our hero, Tom Collins, today,” the family said in a statement. “No words can explain how much love and joy he gave us. He shared his fun-loving, charismatic personality with everyone he met. He will be dearly missed by all of us, his dear friends and the figure skating community.” Born and raised in Kirkland Lake in northern Ontario, Collins dropped out of school in the eighth grade to work in a gold mine to pay…

Long before Yuzuru Hanyu was confirmed to compete at Autumn Classic International in mid-September, fans of the Japanese superstar had scooped up every available ticket for the event in Oakville, Ontario. Although Hanyu won the Challenger Series competition by almost 17 points, his combined score of 279.05 was far below the 300.97 he earned at the 2019 World Championships last March. The reigning Olympic champion has kept both programs from last season. Hampered by injury, Hanyu was unable to compete as much as he had planned in 2018 and the early part of 2019, and feels he has not yet done the programs justice. “I did not skate them to their full potential. I want to skate these programs better and show Johnny Weir and Evgeni Plushenko complete versions,” he…

A decade after teaming up, Italy’s Massimo Scali, 39, and Federica Faiella, 38, were forced to retire in 2011 due to injury. Faiella quit skating and joined the police force. She married in 2013 and has a two-year-old son, Valerio. Scali first worked as a coach and choreographer at the Detroit Skating Club, subsequently moving to Marina Zoueva’s rink in Canton, Michigan. In 2019, he relocated to the Hertz Arena in Estero, Florida, with Zoueva’s coaching/choreographic team. Five-time U.S. ice dance champions Naomi Lang and Peter Tchernyshev retired in 2004. The duo turned professional and performed in shows around the world for more than a decade. In 2004, Lang and Ukrainian ice acrobat Vladimir Besedin welcomed a daughter, Lillia. In 2008, Lang married former U.S. ice dancer Mark Fitzgerald. The…

There was a time when junior skaters were, well, junior skaters. In a bygone era, those at that level were considered up-and-coming talents that executed double jumps, throws and twists — and fell a lot But those days are long gone. While the level of skating in the junior ranks has been rising every season, those at the top took it to an entirely new level this year. The current crop of future champions turned up with multiple quads, triple Axels and difficult triple-triple combinations in their arsenals. Though some decry the stress these jumps are causing their growing bodies, it is the nature of elite athletes in all sports to push the boundaries — to go higher, faster and do things that have never been done before. With skaters…

▸SHE SAID YES! Canada’s Mitchell Islam announced his engagement to his longtime girlfriend and former ice dance partner Alexandra Paul on Aug. 17. Islam, 29, and Paul 28, began competing in the junior ranks in 2009 and retired in December 2016. Paul is in her third year of law school at the University of Windsor, while Islam is a coach at the Mariposa School of Skating in Barrie, Ontario. ▸IT’S A BOY! Former U.S. champion Nicole Bobek, 42, and her husband Pedro Santos Leal are getting ready to welcome a son in late January/early February. The couple married in 2017 and now lives in Spain. They have already chosen a name for their first child: Alejandro Santos Bobek. Great Britain’s Jenna McCorkell and Belgium native Kevin van der Perren welcomed…