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Iam really looking forward to what the second half of what this season will bring, given what transpired throughout the fall of 2016. It was inspiring to see so many new and also familiar faces gracing the senior and junior Grand Prix and Challenger Series stages. But, there were ups and downs for the former champions who have returned to the competitive environment. Carolina Kostner kicked off her comeback with a win at Golden Spin in December and will be competing at the European Championships in late January. Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir have so far won every event they have entered and capturing their first Grand Prix Final title was, as Moir noted, the icing on the cake. Things have not gone quite so well for Mao Asada who…
Misha Ge heard the music and knew what was to follow. “The next skater: Alexander Petrov — free program. My choreography,” said Ge following his free skate at Skate Canada International in late October. It is just one of the many elements of the charismatic Uzbekistani skater, who has been choreographing his own programs for many years and now shares his creative juices with his peers. “Sometimes I watch little kids who are just dancing to some kind of music, and I get inspiration from that to do something childish and funny,” Ge said. “I study contemporary and modern dance at a Chinese academy, which has professional dancers only, and I also get inspiration from them. Sometimes from movies — or I might be in the park listening to classical…
Everyone stood silently as tears streamed down Mao Asada’s face. Trophée de France was not a happy competition for her or the fans that had traveled from Japan to watch her compete in Paris. Asada’s ninth-place finish was her worst result in the decade she has competed in the senior ranks. Before the competition began, Asada announced that she would not attempt a triple Axel — her signature jump — due to a nagging pain in her left knee. But when she doubled all but one of the jumps in her long program, everyone went into shock mode. “May I have a tissue?” Asada asked when she attended in the mixed zone following her free skate. Someone handed her the box. The Japanese star took few minutes to wipe away…
It has been a long road back for Haven Denney following a devastating injury in April 2015, when she shredded her knee while practicing a throw double flip. The diagnosis was dire. She had torn the anterior cruciate and lateral collateral ligaments and bilateral and lateral meniscus in her right knee. Surgery was performed six days later in Vail, Colo., but the rehabilitation process was long and arduous. Denney was not allowed to put any weight on the leg for six weeks, followed by rehab and physical therapy. “We were just warming up off the ice, doing something super simple. Butwhen I landed, my foot stayed and my body kept rotating,” Denney explained. While she spent several months rehabilitating at the United States Olympic Training Centre in Colorado Springs, her…
Russian teams had dominated the international ice dance scene for decades, but not so anymore. It has been seven years since Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin were crowned World champions in 2009, the last Russian team to claim the title. Since then, Russia has captured only two medals at major competitions — Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitri Solovyev won bronze at 2013 Worlds, and an Olympic bronze which went to Elena Ilinykh and Nikita Katsalapov in 2014. The promising but erratic Ilinykh and Katsalapov split soon afterwards, and the usually consistent Bobrova and Solovyev have not competed at Worlds since 2013. With Bobrova and Solovyev’s retirement on the horizon and Ilinykh and Katsalapov failing to break through with their new respective partners, Russia is in need of a strong team that…
Kanako Murakami, one of Japan’s most popular skaters, has had her share of ups and downs throughout her nine-year career on the international stage. The Nagoya native who won the 2010 World Junior title at age 15 was the sixth Japanese lady to capture the crown. She described that victory as a transformative experience. “I was overflowing with confidence. That season I won all my competitions as a junior,” the 22-year-old recalled. Murakami made her senior debut at 2011 Worlds. She competed in another four consecutive Championships, finishing in the top 10 on each occasion. Her highest result was fourth in 2013. She struggled during the first half of the 2014 Olympic season, and on the eve of the 2013 Japanese Championships her team changed her short program, a move…
