Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2021 i International Figure Skating

As we go to print, a new season is about to get underway, starting with the Junior Grand Prix Series. The first two competitions will take place in Courchevel, France, after Canada canceled an event due to ongoing pandemic restrictions. With many of the top skaters from the 2019-2020 junior campaign now in the senior ranks, a new crop of young stars is set to hit the seven stages. I am really looking forward to this Series, and the surprising new talents that will emerge from many different countries. As always, every skater at every stop of this Series will be shown on the ISU YouTube channel, with commentary by Ted Barton. The first senior competitions of the season, the Challenger Series, begin in early September. But, it will be…

Rohene Ward has earned global recognition for his work as a choreographer, particularly for the programs he has created for the American skater Jason Brown. But getting to this point in his life and career has been a long and often disappointing journey. As a skater of mixed race, his competitive career was a series of highs and lows, both on and off the ice. However, after retiring in 2008, Ward found his calling and went on to develop a successful career on the other side of the boards. Can you tell us about your family background and how you got into figure skating? I grew up in North Minneapolis. My father was African American, and my mom is Puerto Rican. My parents never married, and they split up when…

Brian Boitano has signed on to produce a Netflix family film “Take the Ice” along with Debra Martin Chase and director Charles Randolph-Wright (“Delilah” and “Greenleaf”). The script, written by Deborah Swisher, centers on Tisha Moore, a rebellious 15-year-old who has dreamt about becoming an ice skater her entire life. But as a Black girl from Brooklyn, the closest she has come is dazzling people with her roller-skating routines while busking in the park. When she gets the opportunity to join a local synchronized skating team, she is forced to come to terms with the root of her rebellious ways and must learn to trust others to achieve her dream. Boitano will also serve as the film’s choreographer. “I am excited to be a part of a movie that will…

It is almost uncanny. Karen Chen, a 21-year-old from Fremont, California, has competed only twice at the World Championships — 2017 and 2021 — and the stakes were identical at both. Not only were global titles and medals on the line, but also berths at an Olympic Winter Games the following year. And to add to the mystique, those two World Championships just happened to be contested in neighboring European countries (Finland in 2017 and Sweden in 2021). At each of those World Championships, the United States went in with two women’s entries, aspiring to land a third spot at the Olympics. It required the American skaters’ final placements to add up to 13 or less, and on both occasions they did exactly that — with Chen playing the primary…

The 2021 Grand Prix Series opens with Skate America in Las Vegas, Nevada, in late October, and concludes with Rostelecom Cup in Sochi, Russia, at the end of November. With a fairly equal distribution of the top skaters in the world across all six events, including the 2021 World and 2020 European and Four Continents champions, this promises to be one of the most competitive Series in years. Given how challenging it was to secure a berth at any of these competitions, there will likely be very few changes, other than those that withdraw due to injury or illness. The Russian women captured 17 spots for their nation on the circuit this year. On the flip side, no Australian or Israeli skaters ranked high enough in the World Standings to…

The competitive atmosphere at Internationaux de France, the penultimate event of the Series, will be fierce. With only two competitions remaining, every skater/team in contention will be chasing a podium finish in Grenoble. This will mark the first time Anna Shcherbakova has contested a Grand Prix on French soil. As with Cup of China, she should have no trouble capturing gold at this competition. Her teammate, Alena Kostornaia, will be looking for a solid season after sitting out most of the last one due to injury and illness. If she has regained her triple Axel, Kostornaia would be in the medal mix along with Karen Chen and Mariah Bell of the U.S. and Japan’s Wakaba Higuchi. Yuma Kagiyama of Japan, the 2021 World silver medalist, is the top gun in…

The International Skating Union streamed its second annual ISU Skating Awards show on July 10. Due to the lack of international competitions last season, only the Lifetime Achievement Award was presented this year. Tamara Moskvina, Alexei Mishin and Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean were honored by the ISU for their contributions to the sport. Maxim Trankov, the 2014 Olympic pairs champion who presented Moskvina and Mishin with their awards, arrived at Mishin’s school disguised as as a sanitizer. Moskvina questioned why someone was disinfecting the building, to which Mishin jokingly replied, “He is coming to disinfect you.” Trankov’s ruse was short-lived as Mishin recognized him immediately. On receiving the award, Moskvina turned to address her students. “Without you, no coach wins an award like this, so please skate better, be…

Nathan Chen found himself on the hot seat following a YouTube interview in July. When asked if people question him about participating in a “feminine” sport, Chen responded that, as a straight male athlete in a fairly LGBTQ-dominated sport, it is “pretty messed up” that he and others are belittled because figure skating has a feminine connotation and people would rather watch guys play hockey instead of people skating around. Chen subsequently posted a video apology on social media. “I recently did an interview where I was asked if people ever ask me why I don’t just play hockey because skating has a ‘feminine’ connotation and hockey is ‘masculine.’ I gave an ignorant response to that question, and I want to apologize for that,” he said. “In that moment, I…

It was, Nikolaj Sørensen will tell you now, the craziest of thoughts – or so it seemed at the time. After being denied the chance to compete at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in South Korea due to citizenship issues, the Danish ice dancer and his Canadian partner Laurence Fournier Beaudry first hatched the idea of switching countries. In March 2018, they made the decision to represent Canada with the goal of earning a place on its 2022 Olympic Winter Games squad. Now the second top team in the country, that dream could very well become reality in a few months time. Though the path has been anything but smooth at times — especially the last two years—Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Nikolaj Sørensen can now see the biggest prize squarely…

A new generation of young stars fresh out of the junior ranks will be gracing the senior Grand Prix stages for the first time this season. Some will come armed with quads and triple Axels, and all will be looking to make a solid impression in their respective debuts in the big leagues. The top four women from the 2020 World Junior Championships have all moved up to the senior level: Russia’s Kamila Valieva, Daria Usacheva and Maiia Khromykh, who are coached by Eteri Tutberidze and her team in Moscow, and Alysa Liu of the U.S. None of these skaters were old enough to participate in any international competitions at the senior level last season. Kamila Valieva Like many of her predecessors, Kamila Valieva was a dominant force in her…

Cup of China, the third event of the Series, will once again take place in the southern city of Chongqing. China’s top — and perhaps only — hope for a medal will be in the pairs discipline with Wenjing Sui and Cong Han headlining the field. Top medal contenders include their teammates Peng Cheng and Yang Jin along with Italy’s Nicole Della Monica and Matteo Guarise. In an interesting twist, Russia’s Anna Shcherbakova chose two Grand Prixs outside her Russian homeland this season. The reigning World champion is a shoe-in for gold in Chongqing. The battle for silver and bronze will most likely be between Bradie Tennell of the U.S. and Belgium’s Loena Hendrickx. Russia’s Maiia Khromykh could be a dark horse in this field with two different quads in…

OLYMPIC PERSPECTIVE Yuzuru Hanyu is preparing for what will likely be his final Olympic Winter Games appearance, but this time he is approaching the competition with a completely different mindset. Before he takes to the ice in Beijing, the Japanese superstar is hoping to add a jump to his repertoire that has so far eluded him: The quadruple Axel. “I have a strong will to perform a quad Axel this season. I want to carry that determination into the season. That is my biggest goal and this season, I will do my best to achieve my biggest dream,” he said. At age 25, Hanyu admitted he does not have the same amount of energy as he had in PyeongChang or Sochi. If he were to win a third consecutive title…