Ladies Figure Skating

2007 World Championships - Final Results

2007-03-24T12:09:00.000-07:00

1) Miki Ando JPN 195.09 2 2
2) Mao Asada JPN 194.45 5 1
3) Yu-Na Kim KOR 186.14 1 4
4) Kimmie Meissner USA 180.23 4 3
5) Yukari Nakano JPN 168.92 7 6
6) Carolina Kostner ITA 168.92 3 9
7) Sarah Meier SUI 160.80 9 8
8) Susanna Poykio FIN 160.12 10 7
9) Emily Hughes USA 159.06 6 13
10) Joannie Rochette CAN 158.98 16 5
11) Valentina Marchei ITA 153.60 14 10
12) Julia Sebestyen HUN 153.50 8 15
13) Elena Sokolova RUS 149.77 11 14
14) Kiira Korpi FIN 149.47 17 11
15) Alissa Czisny USA 147.74 18 12
16) Arina Martinova RUS 145.28 12 16
17) Elene Gedevanishvili GEO 144.40 13 17
18) Elena Glebova EST 131.18 22 18
19) Anastasia Gimazetdinova UZB 130.44 15 20
20) Joanne Carter AUS 127.17 19 21
21) Idora Hegel CRO 125.66 24 19
22) Yan Liu CHN 123.22 21 23
23) Tamar Katz ISR 122.51 23 22
24) Mira Leung CAN 120.74 20 24

2007 World Championships - Short Program Results

2007-03-23T12:22:00.000-07:00

1) Yu-Na Kim KOR 71.95
2) Miki Ando JPN 67.98
3) Carolina Kostner ITA 67.15
4) Kimmie Meissner USA 64.67
5) Mao Asada JPN 61.32
6) Emily Hughes USA 60.88
7) Yukari Nakano JPN 60.62
8) Julia Sebestyen HUN 59.98
9) Sarah Meier SUI 58.52
10) Susanna Poykio FIN 57.16
11) Elena Sokolova RUS 55.83
12) Arina Martinova RUS 54.69
13) Elene Gedevanishvili GEO 53.97
14) Valentina Marchei ITA 51.88
15) Anastasia Gimazetdinova UZB 49.99
16) Joannie Rochette CAN 49.85
17) Kiira Korpi FIN 49.63
18) Alissa Czisny USA 49.43
19) Joanne Carter AUS 48.46
20) Mira Leung CAN 47.05
21) Yan Liu CHN 46.59
22) Elena Glebova EST 46.10
23) Tamar Katz ISR 45.66
24) Idora Hegel CRO 44.91
25) Kathrin Freudelsperger AUT 42.24
26) Lina Johansson SWE 41.87
27) Tugba Karademir TUR 41.79
28) Irina Movchan UKR 40.76
29) Kristin Wieczorek GER 40.35
30) Roxana Luca ROU 39.65
31) Anna Jurkiewicz POL 36.39
32) Hristina Vassileva BUL 36.22
33) Radka Bartova SVK 36.17
34) Isabelle Pieman BEL 35.12
35) Ivana Hudziecova CZE 33.86
36) Teodora Postic SLO 33.77
37) Merovee Ephrem MON 33.01
38) Maria-Elena Papasotiriou GRE 32.90
39) Julia Teplih LAT 31.19
40) Charissa Tansomboon THA 30.46
41) Jocelyn Ho TPE 30.41
42) Ana Cecilia Cantu MEX 30.28
43) Ksenia Jastsenjski SRB 27.56
44) Ami Parekh IND 26.82
45) Kristine Y. Lee HKG 23.57

The ladies always seem to deliver, don’t they? This year's short program was no different with all of the top four women landing triple-triple combinations. Yu-Na Kim took the lead and, under the new system, scored the highest international marks for a ladies short program with a whopping 71.95. Miki Ando delivered the most technically challenging program of the evening (featuring a triple lutz-triple loop!) while Carolina Kostner continued her comeback from an injury to deliver a very strong performance as well.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the evening was seeing Kimmie Meissner in 4th place after skating clean. I still think Kimmie’s actually in very good shape. She has three women ahead of her who have battled injuries this year and/or have reputations as less than consistent skaters. Kimmie herself is quite capable of pulling out a strong and clean free skate.

My pick to win, Mao Asada, singled the back end of her triple flip-triple loop combination. Mao’s in much more trouble than Kimmie. Her gorgeous short program was really her bread and butter all year and her less than fantastic long program will make it difficult to fill in the 10 point gap between her and Kim.

The long program will be performed in Tokyo on Saturday, March 24th starting at 5:30PM local time (that’s 1:30AM PST)

2007 World Championships - Final Predictions

2007-03-22T16:47:00.000-07:00

1) Mao Asada
2) Kimmie Meissner
3) Yu-Na Kim

2007 World Championships – Skating Order

2007-03-21T11:56:00.000-07:00

The skating order for Worlds is up. The short program will be split into two groups:

The Earlier Group starts in Tokyo at 9:15AM on Friday, March 23rd (5:15PM PST on Thursday, March 22nd)

The Later Group starts in Tokyo at 6:00PM on Friday, March 23rd (2:00AM PST on Friday, March 23rd)

Warm-Up Group 1
1) Ami Parekh IND
2) Julia Teplih LAT
3) Hristina Vassileva BUL
4) Ksenia Jastsenjski SRB
5) Kristin Wieczorek GER

Warm-Up Group 2
6) Ivana Hudziecova CZE
7) Merovee Ephrem MON
8) Roxana Luca ROU
9) Kristine Y. Lee HKG
10) Charissa Tansomboon THA

Warm-Up Group 3
11) Tamar Katz ISR
12) Lina Johansson SWE
13) Anastasia Gimazetdinova UZB
14) Teodora Postic SLO
15) Maria-Elena Papasotiriou GRE
16) Radka Bartova SVK

Warm-Up Group 4
17) Kathrin Freudelsperger AUT
18) Isabelle Pieman BEL
19) Ana Cecilia Cantu MEX
20) Anna Jurkiewicz POL
21) Irina Movchan UKR
22) Jocelyn Ho TPE

Warm-Up Group 5
23) Kiira Korpi FIN
24) Joanne Carter AUS
25) Yan Liu CHN
26) Mira Leung CAN
27) Valentina Marchei ITA

Warm-Up Group 6
28) Tugba Karademir TUR
29) Carolina Kostner ITA
30) Idora Hegel CRO
31) Elena Glebova EST
32) Elene Gedevanishvili GEO
33) Arina Martinova RUS

Warm-Up Group 7
34) Joannie Rochette CAN
35) Kimmie Meissner USA
36) Yu-Na Kim KOR
37) Julia Sebestyen HUN
38) Yukari Nakano JPN
39) Susanna Poykio FIN

Warm-Up Group 8
40) Sarah Meier SUI
41) Miki Ando JPN
42) Mao Asada JPN
43) Emily Hughes USA
44) Alissa Czisny USA
45) Elena Sokolova RUS

2007 World Junior Championships - Final Results

2007-03-03T23:13:00.000-08:00

1) Caroline Zhang USA 169.25 1 1
2) Mirai Nagasu USA 163.84 2 2
3) Ashley Wagner USA 157.15 3 3
4) Jenni Vahamaa FIN 138.61 6 4
5) Rumi Suizu JPN 134.95 5 6
6) Elena Glebova EST 131.91 4 11
7) Laura Lepisto FIN 129.72 12 5
8) Yea-Ji Shin KOR 126.45 10 9
9) Nana Takeda JPN 126.43 15 7
10) Stefania Berton ITA 126.06 8 10
11) Satsuki Muramoto JPN 123.85 21 8
12) Alena Leonova RUS 122.89 9 13
13) Arina Martinova RUS 122.77 11 12
14) Sonia Lafuente ESP 116.43 13 14
15) Chae-Hwa Kim KOR 114.01 16 15
16) Julie Cagnon FRA 112.15 20 16
17) Victoria Muniz PUR 112.10 17 17
18) Myriane Samson CAN 111.04 7 19
19) Bettina Heim SUI 108.77 18 18
20) Ji Eun Choi KOR 105.90 14 20
21) Julia Sheremet BLR 98.00 22 22
22) Jennie Lee TPE 97.52 23 21
23) Kerstin Frank AUT 96.26 19 24
24) Brigitte Blickling GER 93.17 28 23
25) Katherine Hadford HUN 93.05 24 25
26) Ivana Reitmayerova SVK FNR 25
27) Vanessa James GBR FNR 26
28) Viktoria Helgesson SWE FNR 27
29) Nella Simaova CZE FNR 29
30) Charissa Tansomboon THA FNR 30
31) Tina Wang AUS FNR 31
32) Merovee Ephrem MON FNR 32
33) Morgan Figgins NZL FNR 33
34) Laura Czarnotta POL FNR 34
35) Loretta Hamui MEX FNR 35
36) Yalu Guo CHN FNR 36
37) Jenna Syken ISR FNR 37
38) Melissandre Fuentes AND FNR 38
39) Anastasia Listopad UKR FNR 39
40) Barbara Klerk BEL FNR 40
41) Teodora Vigu ROU FNR 41
42) Mirna Libric CRO FNR 42
43) Dasa Grm SLO FNR 43
44) Beatrice Rozinskaite LTU FNR 44
45) Sara Twete DEN FNR 45
46) Stasia Rage LAT FNR 46
47) Kristina Shlobina AZE FNR 47
48) Eva Lim NED FNR 48
49) Devora Radeva BUL FNR 49
50) Siobhan Mccoll RSA FNR 50
51) Ani Vardanyan ARM FNR 51
52) Sonja Mugosa SRB FNR 52

2007 World Junior Championships - Short Program Results

2007-03-02T11:00:00.000-08:00

1) Caroline Zhang USA 59.17
2) Mirai Nagasu USA 57.22
3) Ashley Wagner USA 51.67
4) Elena Glebova EST 51.22
5) Rumi Suizu JPN 49.31
6) Jenni Vahamaa FIN 47.50
7) Myriane Samson CAN 45.78
8) Stefania Berton ITA 45.30
9) Alena Leonova RUS 45.15
10) Yea-Ji Shin KOR 44.56
11) Arina Martinova RUS 43.77
12) Laura Lepisto FIN 43.19
13) Sonia Lafuente ESP 42.39
14) Ji Eun Choi KOR 41.93
15) Nana Takeda JPN 41.76
16) Chae-Hwa Kim KOR 41.72
17) Victoria Muniz PUR 41.43
18) Bettina Heim SUI 40.34
19) Kerstin Frank AUT 40.30
20) Julie Cagnon FRA 40.22
21) Satsuki Muramoto JPN 39.70
22) Julia Sheremet BLR 39.33
23) Jennie Lee TPE 37.77
24) Katherine Hadford HUN 37.72
25) Ivana Reitmayerova SVK 37.41
26) Vanessa James GBR 37.35
27) Viktoria Helgesson SWE 36.42
28) Brigitte Blickling GER 36.34
29) Nella Simaova CZE 35.97
30) Charissa Tansomboon THA 35.88
31) Tina Wang AUS 35.77
32) Merovee Ephrem MON 35.43
33) Morgan Figgins NZL 34.69
34) Laura Czarnotta POL 34.26
35) Loretta Hamui MEX 34.05
36) Yalu Guo CHN 33.90
37) Jenna Syken ISR 32.61
38) Melissandre Fuentes AND 32.36
39) Anastasia Listopad UKR 31.96
40) Barbara Klerk BEL 31.47
41) Teodora Vigu ROU 30.97
42) Mirna Libric CRO 30.78
43) Dasa Grm SLO 30.49
44) Beatrice Rozinskaite LTU 30.42
45) Sara Twete DEN 30.38
46) Stasia Rage LAT 29.68
47) Kristina Shlobina AZE 29.44
48) Eva Lim NED 29.37
49) Devora Radeva BUL 27.20
50) Siobhan Mccoll RSA 23.31
51) Ani Vardanyan ARM 22.75
52) Sonja Mugosa SRB 22.43

Jr. Worlds - Final Predictions

2007-03-01T19:40:00.000-08:00

1) Caroline Zhang USA
2) Ashley Wagner USA
3) Mirai Nagasu USA
4) Nana Takeda JPN

I really dislike predicting sweeps. In fact, this marks the first time I've ever officially or unofficially predicted American women to sweep the medals at any international event. Normally it seems incredibly short-sighted to single out your own country's competitors as unbeatable, but US women ruled the junior grand prix this season. Caroline Zhang, Ashley Wagner, and Juliana Cannarozzo all won two grand prix competitions each and then finished 1, 2 and 3 respectively at the final. The United States qualified five women to the final in all with Megan Oster finishing a solid 4th place behind her teammates. Yet Cannarozzo or Oster won't be joining Zhang and Wagner in Germany this week. Two months ago, fellow American Mirai Nagasu, who did not compete on the junior grand prix this season, left Spokane as the surprise US Jr. Champion, trumping silver medalist Zhang and bronze medalist Wagner, to earn a trip to Junior Worlds. I'm betting that Zhang will bounce back from her Nationals disappointment to earn her fourth gold medal of the season. Wagner's steady nerves should secure her the silver medal, and if Nagasu isn't too overwhlemed by expectations, she may win a medal at her first major international event.

Four Continents - Final Results

2007-02-10T22:17:00.000-08:00

1) Kimmie Meissner USA 172.75 6 1
2) Emily Hughes USA 166.60 2 2
3) Joannie Rochette CAN 165.90 1 3
4) Aki Sawada JPN 156.88 3 5
5) Alissa Czisny USA 154.03 4 6
6) Yoshie Onda JPN 152.61 7 4
7) Lesley Hawker CAN 138.23 16 7
8) Binshu Xu CHN 133.09 10 8
9) Yan Liu CHN 126.69 5 15
10) Dan Fang CHN 125.20 8 13
11) Yea-Ji Shin KOR 123.44 14 9
12) Anastasia Gimazetdinova UZB 123.39 11 12
13) Na-Young Kim KOR 122.28 13 10
14) Chae-Hwa Kim KOR 121.11 9 14
15) Cynthia Phaneuf CAN 120.01 15 11
16) Joanne Carter AUS 108.40 18 16
17) Ana Cecilia Cantu MEX 100.64 17 20
18) Emily Naphtal MEX 96.26 21 17
19) Jocelyn Ho TPE 95.56 20 19
20) Ami Parekh IND 94.56 22 18
21) Phoebe Di Tommaso AUS 92.92 19 22
22) Michele Cantu MEX 90.63 23 21
23) Abigail Pietersen RSA 74.30 24 23
WD Fumie Suguri JPN 12
25) Kristine Y. Lee HKG FNR 25
26) Stephanie Gardner BRA FNR 26

Kimmie skated one of her better long program performances this year to win the first Four Continents' title in her first attempt. She landed five triples jumps including a triple lutz-triple toe loop. She also hit a nice double axel-double toe-double loop at the tail end of her program. Her only major mistake was a popped flip. She just may be peaking right on time for Worlds. Emily has reason to smile too. For the first time in nearly two years, she did not fall in her long program. In all, she landed 6 triple jumps. Joannie's lutz was missing in action today, as she missed both attempts in her long program. Still, she turned in a respectable performance to capture her first ever medal at Four Continents, the bronze.

Four Continents - Short Program Results

2007-02-09T12:05:00.000-08:00

1) Joannie Rochette CAN 56.60
2) Emily Hughes USA 55.34
3) Aki Sawada JPN 55.13
4) Alissa Czisny USA 54.64
5) Yan Liu CHN 53.34
6) Kimmie Meissner USA 52.49
7) Yoshie Onda JPN 49.38
8) Dan Fang CHN 48.56
9) Chae-Hwa Kim KOR 46.96
10) Binshu Xu CHN 46.82
11) Anastasia Gimazetdinova UZB 46.15
12) Fumie Suguri JPN 46.09
13) Na-Young Kim KOR 43.28
14) Yea-Ji Shin KOR 42.21
15) Cynthia Phaneuf CAN 42.14
16) Lesley Hawker CAN 41.06
17) Ana Cecilia Cantu MEX 39.19
18) Joanne Carter AUS 38.35
19) Phoebe Di Tommaso AUS 34.05
20) Jocelyn Ho TPE 33.11
21) Emily Naphtal MEX 31.66
22) Ami Parekh IND 30.40
23) Michele Cantu MEX 29.66
24) Abigail Pietersen RSA 25.21
25) Kristine Y. Lee HKG 23.06
26) Stephanie Gardner BRA 18.69

I think I made it clear that I’ve never been great at making predictions. My Four Continents picks pretty much confirmed that. After the short program, according to my predictions, my 1st place skater is currently in 6th and my 2nd place skater is in 12th. So much for that crystal ball. Kimmie’s only four points behind the lead though so this fight certainly isn’t over for her. Regardless it was a poor showing for the American ladies with all three falling in the short program. Kimmie and Alissa both missed their combinations, and Emily fell on her solo flip. Things are even less promising for Fumie who’s ten points out of first and fell twice in her program. Even Joannie, who sits as the top finisher, stumbled out of her combo. I can only hope the ladies pull it together before Saturday’s free skate.

Four Continents - Final Predictions

2007-02-08T12:02:00.000-08:00

1) Kimmie Meissner USA
2) Fumie Suguri JPN
3) Emily Hughes USA
4) Alissa Czisny USA
5) Joannie Rochette CAN

All three American ladies are coming off of strong performances at their national championships. The same can’t be said of Fumie or Joannie. Regardless it’s always dangerous to count out Fumie. Despite being the reigning silver medalist she did not qualify for worlds this year. Fumie might feel like she still has something to prove before her season is officially over. Kimmie seems to be getting stronger as worlds approaches and will most likely be difficult to beat in her home country.

Asian Winter Games - Final Results

2007-02-02T17:50:00.000-08:00

1) Yukari Nakano JPN 162.38 2 1
2) Fumie Suguri JPN 162.05 1 3
3) Binshu Xu CHN 159.02 3 2
4) Dan Fang CHN 145.46 4 4
5) Aki Sawada JPN 138.98 6 5
6) Anastasia Gimazetdinova UZB 130.71 5 8
7) Yan Liu CHN 130.16 9 6
8) Yea-Ji Shin KOR 125.58 10 7
9) Ji Eun Choi KOR 114.64 8 9
10) Na-Hee Sin KOR 114.24 7 10
11) Charissa Tansomboon THA 79.92 12 11
12) Gracielle Jeanne Tan PHI 72.48 11 12
13) Hsin-Hui Tsai TPE 59.95 13 14
14) Anne Clarisse Roman PHI 58.87 14 13
15) Ramina Palaca PHI 46.81 15 15

Asian Winter Games - Short Program Results

2007-02-01T23:22:00.000-08:00

1) Fumie Suguri JPN 58.50
2) Yukari Nakano JPN 57.36
3) Binshu Xu CHN 55.22
4) Dan Fang CHN 51.65
5) Anastasia Gimazetdinova UZB 47.67
6) Aki Sawada JPN 47.43
7) Na-Hee Sin KOR 43.72
8) Ji Eun Choi KOR 43.30
9) Yan Liu CHN 42.20
10) Yea-Ji Shin KOR 41.02
11) Gracielle Jeanne Tan PHI 26.28
12) Charissa Tansomboon THA 25.10
13) Hsin-Hui Tsai TPE 20.92
14) Anne Clarisse Roman PHI 17.36
15) Ramina Palaca PHI 15.38

New Assignments for Team USA

2007-01-28T20:48:00.000-08:00

Team USA assignments for upcoming international events are in. Everything looks to be pretty much by the book. I guess I was a little surprised to see Rachael Flatt missing from the junior worlds team (she seems to have that certain quality the USFSA usually likes to promote) but Ashley Wagner more than earned her spot this year.

So what’s the likelihood of the top three dropping out of Four Continents to focus on training for worlds? I’ve got to admit I hope it’s high. I’d like to see Bebe and Danielle’s season extend just a little bit longer. I’d also love to see Danielle get some international experience on the senior level.

World Championships
Kimmie Meissner
Emily Hughes
Alissa Czisny

Alternates
Bebe Liang
Danielle Kahle
Juliana Cannarozzo

Four Continents Championships
Kimmie Meissner
Emily Hughes
Alissa Czisny

Alternates
Bebe Liang
Danielle Kahle
Juliana Cannarozzo

World Junior Championships
Mirai Nagasu
Caroline Zhang
Ashley Wagner

Alternates
Rachael Flatt
Danielle Kahle
Juliana Cannarozzo

European Championships – Final Results

2007-01-27T17:13:00.000-08:00

1) Carolina Kostner ITA 174.79 2 1
2) Sarah Meier SUI 171.28 1 2
3) Kiira Korpi FIN 151.19 5 4
4) Susanna Poykio FIN 146.02 7 5
5) Valentina Marchei ITA 144.28 12 3
6) Alisa Drei FIN 141.90 9 6
7) Elena Sokolova RUS 139.71 8 7
8) Elene Gedevanishvili GEO 137.32 3 9
9) Julia Sebestyen HUN 136.05 4 10
10) Tugba Karademir TUR 131.00 13 8
11) Alexandra Ievleva RUS 126.99 6 14
12) Elena Glebova EST 126.80 10 12
13) Tamar Katz ISR 126.09 11 13
14) Lina Johansson SWE 120.64 15 15
15) Jenna McCorkell GBR 120.47 20 11
16) Idora Hegel CRO 119.96 14 16
17) Anne Sophie Calvez FRA 116.96 16 17
18) Viktoria Pavuk HUN 110.98 21 18
19) Kristin Wieczorek GER 110.20 23 19
20) Christiane Berger GER 109.17 17 22
21) Roxana Luca ROM 108.34 22 21
22) Anna Jurkiewicz POL 107.31 24 20
23) Radka Bartova SVK 105.12 19 23
24) Irina Movchan UKR 102.94 18 24

I’ll be honest. I didn’t see this one coming. I’ve always loved Carolina Kostner’s skating (I think she’s one of the most exciting jumpers around today) but she doesn’t always pull it together when she has to. Thankfully she did just that today, landing six triples, and walking away with her first European title. Sarah Meier continued her remarkable season by nabbing the silver while Kiira Korpi scored her first medal at a major international event, perhaps putting to rest any silly Anna Kournikova comparisons. Looks like Kiira’s got game.

It’s hard to believe that the Russians, who normally dominate this event, were hardly a blimp on the radar this year. This is the first time a Russian woman hasn’t medaled at Europeans since 1993. It’s a sign of the times. Unless Irina Slutskaya decides she’s ready to return sometime soon, it’s a pretty scary time right now for Russian skating.

U.S. Nationals – Final Results, Senior Ladies

2007-01-27T16:38:00.000-08:00

1) Kimberly Meissner 181.68 1 3
2) Emily Hughes 180.86 3 2
3) Alissa Czisny 177.74 5 1
4) Beatrisa Liang 167.15 2 4
5) Rachael Flatt 159.75 6 5
6) Danielle Kahle 143.82 10 6
7) Juliana Cannarozzo 143.66 9 7
8) Katy Taylor 139.78 4 12
9) Michelle Boulos 139.75 11 8
10) Christine Zukowski 131.06 7 15
11) Megan Oster 130.98 12 9
12) Melissa Bulanhagui 130.42 8 14
13) Megan Williams-Stewart 128.14 17 10
14) Taylor Firth 125.09 19 11
15) Kylie Gleason 123.94 15 13
16) Erin Reed 120.98 14 18
17) Margaret Wang 120.65 16 17
18) Becky Hughes 119.41 13 20
19) Megan Hyatt 119.09 20 16
20) Angie Lien 115.44 18 21
21) Ambar Kaiser 112.29 21 19

It was an odd afternoon to say the least. It’s hard to remember the last time a woman won U.S. Nationals without winning the long program but that’s just what happened. Alissa Czisny actually won the free skate but it wasn’t enough to knock Kimmie Meissner, who recovered nicely after an early misstep in her program, out of first place. Emily Hughes was actually one triple flip away from the title but fell and with it went the gold. But perhaps the most disappointing (and, sadly, least surprising) turn of events was Bebe Liang’s continued inability to put together two clean programs when it matters most.

The good news? Turns out Rachael Flatt’s misjudged/downgraded triple-triple didn’t effect her final placement. Of course that still doesn’t make it right and here’s hoping mistakes like this don’t wind up costing someone a title someday. Finally congrats to Danielle Kahle for pulling up into the top six! She was a favorite of mine at Pacific Coast Sectionals this year and it was my wish to see her crack the top 8. Way to go Danielle!

European Championships - Short Program Results

2007-01-26T14:53:00.000-08:00

1) Sarah Meier SUI 60.49
2) Carolina Kostner ITA 60.46
3) Elene Gedevanishvili GEO 54.62
4) Julia Sebestyen HUN 53.87
5) Kiira Korpi FIN 53.84
6) Alexandra Ievleva RUS 50.28
7) Susanna Poykio FIN 49.47
8) Elena Sokolova RUS 48.85
9) Alisa Drei FIN 48.78
10) Elena Glebova EST 47.35
11) Tamar Katz ISR 47.15
12) Valentina Marchei ITA 46.43
13) Tugba Karademir TUR 46.19
14) Idora Hegel CRO 44.99
15) Lina Johansson SWE 44.03
16) Anne Sophie Calvez FRA 43.78
17) Christiane Berger GER 43.05
18) Irina Movchan UKR 41.42
19) Radka Bartova SVK 40.90
20) Jenna McCorkell GBR 40.27
21) Viktoria Pavuk HUN 39.45
22) Roxana Luca ROM 39.31
23) Kristin Wieczorek GER 39.13
24) Anna Jurkiewicz POL 37.44
25) Kathrin Freudelsperger AUT 36.84
26) Karen Venhuizen NED 35.72
27) Sonia Radeva BUL 34.61
28) Ksenia Doronina RUS 34.31
29) Julia Sheremet BLR 33.98
30) Merovee Ephrem MON 31.34
31) Maria-Elena Papasotiriou GRE 31.26
32) Isabelle Pieman BEL 30.19
33) Ivana Hudziecova CZE 28.46
34) Melissandre Fuentes AND 28.44

It’s a virtual tie for the top spot after the short program at Europeans and I couldn’t be more pleased. How great is it to see the vastly underrated Sarah Meier finally get some love this season? How nice is it to see Carolina Kostner, who has battled some serious injuries all season, near the top of the standings at her first event back? Carolina even completed a triple flip-triple toe combination. It would’ve been enough to put her in first had she not doubled her lutz later in the program. Elene Gedevanishvili, who made a splash at last year’s Europeans and carried that momentum into the Turin Olympics, continued her success at this event by placing third.

U.S. Nationals – Short Program Results, Senior Ladies

2007-01-25T22:32:00.000-08:00

1) Kimberly Meissner 65.69
2) Beatrisa Liang 62.66
3) Emily Hughes 62.32
4) Katy Taylor 58.72
5) Alissa Czisny 58.15
6) Rachael Flatt 56.51
7) Christine Zukowski 54.30
8) Melissa Bulanhagui 52.64
9) Juliana Cannarozzo 49.93
10) Danielle Kahle 48.21
11) Michelle Boulos 48.08
12) Megan Oster 46.73
13) Becky Hughes 46.72
14) Erin Reed 46.53
15) Kylie Gleason 46.04
16) Margaret Wang 45.00
17) Megan Williams-Stewart 44.95
18) Angie Lien 44.72
19) Taylor Firth 43.25
20) Megan Hyatt 43.11
21) Ambar Kaiser 37.95

With Michelle Kwan and Sasha Cohen sitting this one out, very few expected much of an event. Boy, were we all wrong. It turned out to be an evening of outstanding all-around skating. As expected Kimmie Meissner placed first but those that followed might’ve been a little more surprising. Bebe Liang, who’s just such a joy to watch skate, scored a minor upset by placing second ahead of Emily Hughes. Katy Taylor made a triumphant return after a disastrous Grand Prix season. She also wisely ditched the saccharine-laced “Happy Feet” program for something a little more mature. Rachael Flatt wowed them at her first senior nationals and, no matter what the judges say, landed a clean triple-triple combination in the process. The only thing more upsetting than Rachael being robbed of full credit for her jumps was seeing Alissa Czisny held up by the judges and placed ahead of Rachael despite her errors.

2007 Europeans - Final Predictions

2007-01-25T20:17:00.000-08:00

1) Sarah Meier
2) Carolina Kostner
3) Susanna Poykio

Final Predictions for 2007 US Nationals

2007-01-24T19:39:00.000-08:00

1) Kimmie Meissner
2) Emily Hughes
3) Rachael Flatt
4) Alissa Czisny

There aren’t too many givens in figure skating but Kimmie Meissner and Emily Hughes sewing up the top two spots at nationals is one of them. There may be some question as to which order they’ll finish 1-2 but really this is Kimmie’s event to lose. The only real question seems to be who will join them on the podium? My gut tells me Rachael Flatt has what it takes to make quite a splash at her first senior nationals.

Getting back to Emily…a thought struck me the other day while looking at some old competition results. I realized that Emily and Christine Zukowski have actually had very similar careers. Both skaters finished 6th at their first senior nationals and both went on to win bronze at junior worlds. This all occurred within one year of each other. Yet Emily’s the one who received three pro-am invites following her breakout season while Christine has never received any. How exactly is that fair?

U.S. Nationals – Final Results, Junior Ladies

2007-01-23T21:56:00.000-08:00

1) Mirai Nagasu 155.46 1 1
2) Caroline Zhang 151.88 2 2
3) Ashley Wagner 145.86 4 3
4) Blake Rosenthal 130.99 3 8
5) Alexe Gilles 129.37 6 5
6) Chrissy Hughes 129.21 8 4
7) Sherry Barnes 124.37 9 7
8) Victoria Rackohn 122.79 7 9
9) Kirsten Olson 120.96 14 6
10) Michaelee Scarincio 118.53 5 11
11) Chaochih Liu 114.00 13 10
12) Brittney Rizo 111.54 11 12
13) Brittney Westdorp 103.67 10 13
14) Kelcie Lee 97.50 12 14

If you say you saw this one coming I’m not certain I believe you! Mirai Nagasu won the junior ladies title tonight defeating the heavily favored Caroline Zhang. They’re both lovely skaters in their own right but Caroline was definitely picked as the one to beat. A fall on her triple flip no doubt cost Caroline her first national title but if you’ve ever seen Mirai skate you know she’s no slouch herself! Both skaters are blessed with lyrical grace far beyond their age (they’re 13 by the way) and both will hopefully be a presence on the international scene for years to come. How amazing would it be to see Mirai, Caroline, Mao Asada, and Yu Na Kim battle it out at the 2010 Olympics?

U.S. Nationals – Final Results, Novice Ladies

2007-01-22T21:57:00.000-08:00

1) Angela Maxwell 131.65 2 2
2) Kristine Musademba 129.25 5 1
3) Carolyn-Ann Alba 124.75 1 4
4) Deedee Leng 124.51 9 3
5) Ellie Kawamura 115.65 3 5
6) Caroline Ferris 115.39 4 6
7) Ksenia Makarova 112.59 7 7
8) Victoria Hecht 109.07 8 8
9) Danielle Seitz 104.54 6 9
10) Emily Young 95.59 10 10
11) Molly Aaron 94.70 11 11
12) Masha Leonov 86.95 12 12

U.S. Nationals – Short Program Results, Junior Ladies

2007-01-21T22:02:00.000-08:00

1) Mirai Nagasu 54.26
2) Caroline Zhang 53.87
3) Blake Rosenthal 51.67
4) Ashley Wagner 51.20
5) Michaelee Scarincio 46.73
6) Alexe Gilles 46.43
7) Victoria Rackohn 46.07
8) Chrissy Hughes 44.40
9) Sherry Barnes 43.70
10) Brittney Westdorp 43.69
11) Brittney Rizo 42.35
12) Kelcie Lee 41.40
13) Chaochih Liu 41.20
14) Kirsten Olson 38.71

Looks like there’s a bit of an upset to report in the world of junior ladies: Mirai Nagasu beat Caroline Zhang in the short program at U.S. Nationals! Caroline won the Grand Prix Final last month and was expected to easily win her first national title in Spokane but Mirai seems to be putting up quite a fight. I guess it didn’t help matters that Caroline fell on her double axel. Can’t wait to see what happens in the free. If we’re lucky this is the start of some memorable competitions between these two talented young ladies!

U.S. Nationals – Short Program Results, Novice Ladies

2007-01-21T18:51:00.000-08:00

1) Carolyn-Ann Alba 45.04
2) Angela Maxwell 43.33
3) Ellie Kawamura 42.06
4) Caroline Ferris 41.82
5) Kristine Musademba 40.81
6) Danielle Seitz 39.84
7) Ksenia Makarova 39.42
8) Victoria Hecht 38.94
9) Deedee Leng 38.66
10) Emily Young 32.68
11) Molly Aaron 32.34
12) Masha Leonov 31.98

Canadian Nationals – Final Results, Junior Ladies

2007-01-20T15:16:00.000-08:00

1) Dana Zhalko-Tytarenko 109.40 3 1
2) McKenzie Pedersen 106.79 5 2
3) Cecylia Witkowski 105.94 2 6
4) Brittany Novakowski 104.06 11 3
5) Kerry Meagher 103.82 6 5
6) McKenzie Crawford 100.64 15 4
7) Vanessa Juteau 100.53 8 7
8) Natalie Kwong 99.07 12 8
9) Karine Chevrier 98.35 4 10
10) Annie Claire Bergeron-Oliver 97.88 9 9
11) Kathryn Kang 96.16 1 15
12) Katherine De Repentigny 90.87 7 14
13) Alexandra Simon 89.57 10 16
14) Alexandrine Chong 88.45 14 13
15) Kristy Bell 87.92 18 11
16) Erica Risseeuw 86.12 16 17
17) Vanessa Sauriol 86.11 19 12
18) Kassandra Caron Grenier 83.44 17 19
19) Acacia Hill 81.30 13 20
20) Brooke Ellis 79.28 20 18

Canadian Nationals – Final Results, Senior Ladies

2007-01-19T23:18:00.000-08:00

1) Joannie Rochette 170.65 1 1
2) Mira Leung 159.59 3 2
3) Lesley Hawker 156.16 2 3
4) Cynthia Phaneuf 148.36 5 4
5) Myriane Samson 145.73 4 6
6) Meagan Duhamel 144.23 6 5
7) Amanda Billings 133.49 11 7
8) Mylène Brodeur 124.87 9 8
9) Kristen Walker 121.92 8 10
10) Erin Scherrer 120.67 13 9
11) Charlotte Bélair 119.63 10 11
12) Devon Neuls 113.55 14 12
13) Diane Szmiett 107.43 15 14
14) Monica Boucher 104.28 18 13
15) Erika Tisluck 103.92 16 15
16) Hjordis Lee 103.42 12 16
17) Michele Moore 95.79 17 17

So it wasn’t her best performance but tonight it was enough to bring Joannie Rochette her third national title in a row despite landing only four triple jumps and downgrading three. With two spots on the world team up for grabs it looks like Joannie and silver medalist Mira Leung, who landed six triples, will be representing Canada once again. It’ll be interesting to see how the two fair in Tokyo. Some might argue that Mira outskated Joannie tonight but I think even international judges would agree that Mira's questionable technique still puts her neck-and-neck with Joannie on an off-night. Meanwhile Lesley Hawker repeated her bronze medal performance from last year while Cynthia Phaneuf fell short by finishing fourth. Thankfully Cynthia at least seemed pleased with the fact that she made the national team.