Innholdsfortegnelse for September/October 2017 i International Figure Skating

It might be the off-season officially, but unofficially, I don’t think there really is an off-season in skating anymore. During the months of June, July and August athletes had an opportunity to test out their new programs at a number of summer competitions in advance of what will be an intense season. I watched many of the events because I wanted to get a sense of what skaters will be doing this Olympic season. Some stepped out of the box and opted for pieces of music that have not been used (or rarely used) in the past. Others went the safe, traditional route. With all the music available, I admit to being stymied by some of those choices. The Junior Grand Prix — one of my favorite series of the…

Before the 2017 U.S. Championships, few would have thought Vincent Zhou would be adding a silver medal to his trophy case. Though the 16-year-old had shown promise on the junior circuit, he was mostly untested among America’s elite at the senior national level. Zhou’s fall season was good, but not spectacular. With two medals on the Junior Grand Prix circuit, he was first alternate for the Final. Hindered by a nagging hip injury during the first half of the season, Zhou headed to the U.S. Championships under the radar, healthy and hopeful. “Going into nationals, not many people really knew what to expect from me because I had been struggling with a little hip injury. I hadn’t really put out my full technical content, and I had not skated to…

Closing out last season on the highest note of their career was the goal Lubov Ilyushechkina and Dylan Moscovitch had strived for all year. A sixth-place result at the 2017 World Championships — one spot higher than the season before — came on the heels of four international podium finishes: silver at Nebelhorn Trophy and bronze at Skate Canada, Cup of China and Four Continents. Though their focus is on the performances and not results, landing in the top three at those international events boosted their confidence and momentum as the season proressed. “Each podium finish definitely helped, but we were more focused on how we improved each time out. I think that especially in the second half of the season we really started peaking,” Moscovitch said. “Our results reflected…

Moscow The much-anticipated 2017 Grand Prix Series will open in Russia with Rostelecom Cup Reigning World champions Evgenia Medvedeva and Yuzuru Hanyu kick off their respective Olympic seasons in Moscow and — barring any unforeseen circumstances — will be shoo-ins to capture the singles titles. In her only other appearance at this event in 2015, Medvedeva placed second behind her teammate, Elena Radionova, who is also once again assigned to this Grand Prix. Italy’s Carolina Kostner, Japan’s Wakaba Higuchi and Mirai Nagasu from the U.S. are also top contenders to battle it out for a podium finish at this competition. Hanyu has not competed at this event in six years, capturing the title in his only appearance in 2011. Nathan Chen of the U.S. will be Hanyu’s main challenger for…

GOLDEN MOMENT The International Skating Union honored Gale Tanger, Robert Horen and Joseph Inman in June with the Gold Award of Merit for their contributions to figure skating. The three American recipients have dedicated decades of their lives to the sport at the national and international judge, referee and technical controller levels. SKATING WORLD RALLIES In December 2016, former U.S. pairs champion Jeremy Barrett, 33, and his wife, Lucy Barrett, 31, announced they were expecting their first child. Married in April 2016 in a romantic beachfront ceremony in Fort Lauderdale, the couple was overjoyed to start a family. The Barretts’ world fell apart in April 2017 when Lucy, who was seven months pregnant, was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Doctors immediately began chemotherapy treatments, all the while monitoring her unborn…

After two years of deliberation, Jeremy Abbott finally concluded it was time to call an end to his competitive career The four-time U.S. champion, who announced his decision in mid-June, said it felt like the right time to move his skating career in new directions Abbott had been a fixture on the senior U.S. figure skating team for a decade, which began with his international debut at 2005 Nebelhorn Trophy, where he placed 18th. Throughout the subsequent years, there were many highs and lows. The highlight of his career on the international circuit was the night he made history in Goyang, South Korea, by capturing the 2008 Grand Prix Final title. Abbott was the first American man — and only one of two — to have ever claimed a Final…

It has been 23 years since Natalia Mishkutionok and Artur Dmitriev took their final bow as a competitive pairs team and went their separate ways. Mishkutionok moved to the U.S. in 1995 and now coaches in Dallas, Texas. Her daughter, Natasha Mishkutionok-Hainline, 11, is a competitive singles and pairs skater. The 1992 Olympic champion looks back on her storied career, and her journey to the present. At age 16, you left Belarus and went to St. Petersburg, Russia. What prompted that move? I was training in Minsk as a singles skater. My rink hosted a pairs camp and Irina Rodnina came with some of her students. After watching them, I decided that I wanted to try pairs. Irina was from Moscow, but I did not want to move there. I…

“After a break, you don’t go to practice like it is a labor camp.” Elizaveta Tuktamysheva was at the top of the figure skating world when she won the 2015 European and World titles. But after that triumphant season she lost her rhythm and since then has failed to make the Russian teams for either Championships, despite producing solid results at Grand Prix and Challenger Series events. Injuries and inconsistency have haunted Tuktamysheva the past two seasons, but it has also been a mental game. She suffered from back pain at the end of last season, was off the ice for two weeks, and was not allowed to practice jumps for another two weeks. “Everyone knows that figure skaters have back and knee problems and injuries. So far everything is…

“As a competitor, you always want to win, right? But you can't always win.” —Guillaume Cizeron Ask Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron to sum up their 2016-17 season, and it does not take long for both halves of the French ice dance team to comment on the difficulties they had to overcome And it goes far beyond the fact that, for the first time in three years, they did not finish the season as World champions. Delve a little deeper, and both Papadakis and Cizeron will tell you about a highly intricate free dance that took until the World Championships in Helsinki to execute in a way that satisfied the highly ambitious couple. There was also the considerable shadow cast by Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, the Canadian duo whose…

PROPOSALS Meryl Davis announced her engagement to Fedor Andreev by posting a photo of the couple on her Instagram page, showing a square cut yellow diamond ring on her finger, with a simple note: 7/13/17. Davis, 30, the 2014 Olympic ice dance champion, and Andreev, 35, have been dating since late 2010. Andreev, the son of Marina Zoueva, is a former Canadian singles competitor who also competed briefly for Russia in ice dance. Canadian pairs skater Eric Radford chose Aragon, Spain, as the place to propose to his boyfriend Luis Fenero in June. In an Instagram post, Radford wrote: “I’ve learned that the best things in life have a level of simplicity to them. I see it in art, I hear it in music and I feel it with this…

Dabin Choi was charged with the most important task of her budding career at the 2017 World Championships. As the sole represent-ative of her nation in the ladies’ field, Choi’s job was to secure an Olympic berth for the Republic of Korea.. “My strongest point is that I know what my weaknesses are.” The first half of last season had been a frustrating struggle for Dabin Choi. In her first full year in the senior ranks, the 17-year-old placed fourth at both Challenger Series events she contested, ranked seventh at Skate Canada and ninth at NHK Trophy. Disappointed but undaunted, Choi turned things around in early 2017, and carried the momentum all the way through to the World Championships. Choi, who had been training in North America, switched coaches in…

Michal Březina married Danielle Montalbano in a romantic setting at the Roslyn Country Club in Roslyn Heights, New York, on June 10. Ondřej Hotárek was the best man, and the groom's sister, Eliška Březinová, was a bridesmaid. RIGHT: In Czech tradition, a bottle of Slivovitz (a fruit brandy) saved since the groom's birth is opened on his wedding day. The bride and groom were each given a glass, but one held water and the other contained the brandy. ”We didn’t know who got what shot. Michal got the shot filled with the liquor, which signifies that he will be the boss and take care of the family,”the bride explained. ”Then the best man broke the plate that the shot glasses were on and together we cleaned it up. When I…

For more than 30 years Bin Yao was the driving force behind the Chinese pairs powerhouse. In the final decade of his career, Yao coached three separate teams — at the same time — to World and Olympic glory, firmly placing China on the international skating map. His retirement following the 2017 World Championships marked the end of a brilliant era in Chinese skating history. At age 27, shortly after the 1984 Olympic Winter Games in Sarajevo, Yao took over a non-existent Chinese skating program and, henceforth, devoted his life to developing champions. His commitment earned China its reputation as one of the strongest pairs nations in the world. Yao, initially a singles skater, added pairs to his repertoire in 1968. A decade later, in late 1979, he was paired…