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Showing posts from November, 2018

2018 Internationaux de France Men's Preview

Nathan Chen, Boyang Jin, Jason Brown, and Dmitri Aliev face off in last Grand Prix

The Internationaux de France will be this season's last Grand Prix event, and it will determine the top six skaters to qualify for the Grand Prix Final in Vancouver this year. Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan and Shoma Uno of Japan have won both of their events and qualified for the Final. Michal Březina of the Czech Republic has also qualified with two silver medals, and Sergei Voronov of Russia will mostly likely be in with one silver and one bronze. Cha Junhwan of South Korea is waiting in the wings with two bronze medals, the only other skater this season with two Grand Prix medals. The men's event in Grenoble this weekend will likely be a face-off between Nathan Chen of the United States, the reigning World champion, and Boyang Jin of China, the two-time World bronze medalist. Chen decided to simplify the number of quads in his programs from a total of eight (two in the short program and six in the free skate) at his peak to only five for this event. Jason Brown of the
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2018 Internationaux de France Ladies Preview

Evgenia Medvedeva, Bradie Tennell, Rika Kihira, Mai Mihara, and Stanislava Konstantinova vie for the last spots at the Grand Prix Final

The last stop on the Grand Prix series is always one of the most anticipated. No matter who's participating, it determines the remaining Grand Prix Final entries, and in Grenoble this weekend there is an especially nail-biting lineup. Two-time World champion and two-time Olympic silver medalist, Evgenia Medvedeva of Russia, will be looking forward to shrug off the bronze medal she earned at Skate Canada earlier this season. While a good result for almost anyone else in the world, Medvedeva must have felt disappointed with the third-place finish given that she's previously never placed lower than second in her entire senior career. Bradie Tennell, the US National champion and the only American lady at this event, is also looking to grab a medal in France after finishing a disappointing fourth at Skate America. Tennell made an uncharacteristic mistake in her short program when she failed to complete a triple Lutz-triple loop combination and only performed a single loop inste
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Alina Zagitova scores a runaway victory at home Grand Prix

Sofia Samodurova also dazzles once again, Eunsoo Lim wins her first Grand Prix medal, Mako Yamashita falters, and Gracie Gold withdraws

The house was full on Friday and Saturday for the ladies' event at the Rostelecom Cup, the penultimate stop on the Grand Prix circuit this season. Alina Zagitova, Russia's darling Olympic Champion, ran away with the victory last weekend with a world record score in the short program as well as winning the free skate. Fans of Zagitova and of figure skating filled the Megasport arena in Moscow to the rafters. Dozens of Zagitova flags were passed out by spectators, who showered the 17-year-old with giant stuffed teddy bears, bouquets, and other gifts. If the pressure of the fans got to Zagitova, she didn't show it. She took a commanding lead of over 13 points in the short program, skated to Phantom of the Opera  by Andrew Lloyd Weber. She landed a gorgeous triple Lutz-triple loop combination, a triple flip, and a double Axel. In the entire short program, Zagitova received only one grade of execution (GOE) mark under 3 (out of 5): one judge scored her a 2 (out of 5) on he
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2018 Rostelecom Cup Ladies Preview

Alina Zagitova looks poised for another victory, Mako Yamashita wishes to continue her consistent streak, Gracie Gold makes a comeback

The field is deep at the 2018 Rostelecom Cup, but perhaps not for gold: Alina Zagitova of Russia, the Olympic Champion, looks poised for another runaway win here at home. Zagitova won her earlier Grand Prix Assignment, Grand Prix Helsinki, with wins in both segments of the competition despite uncharacteristic mistakes. She is still the holder of all three world records: the short program, the free skate, and the combined total, all achieved earlier this year at the Nebelhorn Trophy. She will skate her short program to Phantom of the Opera  and her free skate to Carmen Suite . Mako Yamashita of Japan has medaled at eight out of her last nine international events. The cool-headed teenager grabbed the surprise silver medal in her Grand Prix debut at Skate Canada this year. Her short program is set to Gioachino Rossini's Una voce poco fa , and her free program is set to Puccini's Madama Butterfly . Sofia Samodurova of Russia is likewise hoping to make her mark in her senior
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2018 Rostelecom Cup Men's Preview

Yuzuru Hanyu, Keegan Messing, and Artur Dmitriev wish to make claims on the quadruple Axel, Mikhail Kolyada hopes to improve on his last Grand Prix

The Olympic Champion, Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan, will make his second Grand Prix appearance at the Rostelecom Cup this week. He won his previous event, Grand Prix Helsinki, in decisive fashion, with world records in both segments of the competition. This is Hanyu's fourth appearance at the Rostelecom Cup and the second year in a row. He won the silver medal last year to American Nathan Chen. He also won the event back in 2011 as well. Hanyu is set to skate his short program to "Otoñal" by Raul DiBlasio and his free skate Origin  to "Art on Ice" and "Magic Stradivarius" by Edvin Marton. Hoping to improve upon his previous Grand Prix performance is the reigning World bronze medalist, Mikhael Kolyada from Russia. He had error-filled skates at his first event, including two falls in the free skate, to end up in fourth place overall. Kolyada is set to skate to Muse in the short program and the Carmen Suite  in the free skate. Keegan Messing of Canada
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Rika Kihira stuns with a victory in her debut Grand Prix

Satoko Miyahara takes silver with solid skates, and Elizaveta Tuktamysheva falls to third after a slim lead

Rika Kihira of Japan stunned the figure skating world by capturing the NHK Trophy, her debut Grand Prix event, in commanding style. Satoko Miyahara, also of Japan, skated with unending poise and elegance to capture silver, and Elizaveta Tuktamysheva of Russia drops her lead from the short program to settle for bronze. The 16-year-old Kihira from Nishinomiya, Japan landed two clean triple Axels en route to winning the title by almost five points. Kihira was in fifth place after a disappointing short program, where she under-rotated and fell on her triple Axel attempt. However, she was less than one point away from the podium and less than seven points from first place, which she more than made up for with her 11-point lead in the free skate. Kihira skated to Clair de Lune by Debussy in the short program and Beautiful Storm by Jennifer Thomas in the free skate. She received high grades of execution points for every single element in the free skate, including a triple Axel-triple to
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Shoma Uno strikes gold once again, this time at home

Defending champion Sergei Voronov wins silver, and Matteo Rizzo upsets for bronze

Olympic silver medalist Shoma Uno of Japan finishes his second Grand Prix event with another win, this time in front of a home crowd at the NHK Trophy. The defending champion, Sergei Voronov of Russia, continues his winning streak in Japan by taking the silver, and Italian teenager Matteo Rizzo captures the surprise bronze. In the short program, Uno skated to Stairway to Heavy by Led Zeppelin. He captured the highest score of the night, including the highest PCS (program component score), despite falling on a quadruple toe loop and missing out on a jump combination. Uno successfully landed the quadruple flip and the triple Axel, which was given the highest grade of execution for a triple Axel this season. Voronov skated his short program to Prelude No. 5 in G minor by Sergei Rachmaninov. He landed all of his jumps with positive grades of execution, including a quadruple toe loop-triple toe loop combination, a triple Lutz, and a triple Axel. He scored almost 10 points higher than
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2018 NHK Trophy Men's Preview

Shoma Uno, Dmitri Aliev, and Vincent Zhou plan six quads each, Sergei Voronov hopes to repeat Grand Prix Final berth

Three young quadsters will be attempting 18 quadruple jumps between them at the 2018 NHK Trophy men's event, to be held in Hiroshima, Japan, this weekend. Shoma Uno of Japan, the reigning Olympic and World silver medalist, will be attempting the quadruple flip, the quadruple Salchow, and the quadruple toe loop. Uno won Skate Canada earlier this year and hopes to continue his winning streak at home this weekend. Dmitri Aliev of Russia was the first European man to land the quadruple Lutz, quadruple Salchow, and quadruple toe loop. He will attempt to land two quadruple jumps in the short program and four in the free skate as well. Vincent Zhou of the United States will attempt the quadruple Lutz, quadruple flip, and quadruple toe loop this weekend. He hopes to improve on his fifth place finish at Skate America earlier this season. Tom Zakrajsek, who coaches Zhou in Colorado Springs, Colorado, demanded that better video footage from multiple angles be made available to judges af
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2018 NHK Trophy Ladies Preview

Grand Prix Champions Satoko Miyahara and Elizaveta Tuktamysheva face off, Rika Kihira hopes to upset

The 2018 NHK Trophy, which is the fourth Grand Prix event of the series this year, will be held from November 9th to 11th in Hiroshima, Japan. The ladies' event is setting up to be a very interesting face-off with two winners of their respective first Grand Prixes, Satoko Miyahara of Japan and Elizaveta Tuktamysheva of Russia, as well as a potential wildcard, Japanese teenager Rika Kihira. Satoko Miyahara is the 2015 World silver medalist and the reigning World bronze medalist. The four-time Japanese national champion is also the holder of the highest score in this event, 219.71 points, which she posted on her way to winning Skate America earlier this season. Elizaveta Tuktamysheva is the 2015 World champion and the winner of the Grand Prix in Canada earlier this season. Tuktamysheva is coming back strong despite struggling the last three seasons and failing to make the World or Olympic team. She plans a triple axel in both of her short program and her free skate. Speaking of
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Yuzuru Hanyu regains his world records en route to a win at Grand Prix Helsinki

Michal Brezina makes a good case for the Grand Prix Final with the silver medal, and Junhwan Cha wins the second-ever Grand Prix medal for South Korean men

Two-time and reigning Olympic Champion Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan won his season debut Grand Prix event for the first time this weekend. He did so in commanding fashion at the inaugural Grand Prix Helsinki, with world records in the short program, free skate, and the combined total score. His short program earned 106.35 points, which was 2.2 points higher than the previous record held by countryman Shoma Uno. Uno had earned the score at the Lombardia Trophy earlier this year. Hanyu's free skate score ousted the previous record, held by American Nathan Chen, by 0.42 points. His total combined score, however, maintains a 16.55 lead over the previous record, also held by Nathan Chen since Skate America earlier this season. Since the scoring system was revamped earlier this summer, all of the old records were penned into the history books and shelved when the 2017-2018 season ended. Hanyu owned all three records in the previous scoring system. The two-time Olympic champion skated his
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Olympic Champion Alina Zagitova wins Grand Prix Helsinki

Stanislava Konstantinova wins her first Grand Prix medal, a silver, and Kaori Sakamoto bounces back from a disappointing short program to win bronze

Olympic Champion Alina Zagitova of Russia remains undefeated on the Grand Prix series by winning her first event of the year, Grand Prix Helsinki. The event was the first of its kind held in Finland after the ISU was left to find an emergency host when China backed out of their commitments to hosting the Cup of China. Zagitova skated to the  Phantom of the Opera soundtrack for her short program and selections from the Carmen Suite for her free skate. Both of her programs were choreographed by Daniil Gleichengauz . Zagitova made an uncharacteristic mistake in her short program on Friday by turning her triple loop in her triple Lutz-triple loop combination into a single. She scored more than 10 points off her season's best. However, she was still more than 5 points in the lead after the short. She came back to land 5 clean triples in the free skate and win that segment of the competition as well. Both of Zagitova's Lutz and loop in her triple Lutz-triple loop combinatio
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