Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2016 i International Figure Skating

January was a busy skating month, with both the Canadian and U.S. Championships taking place the same week and Europeans playing out just one week later. I thought the Canadian and U.S. competitions, which ushered in a series of new champions, were far and away two of the hardest fought — in every discipline — I have seen in a very long time. The ladies event at Canadians had three young women battling it out, two of whom skated lights-out in the free. Patrick Chan lit up the ice with two solid programs and heads into Worlds with a lot more confidence than he had at the beginning of the season. In the men’s competition at U.S. nationals, Adam Rippon, emerged the winner for the first time in his eight…

Nicole Orford and Asher Hill both thought their ice dance careers were over when their former partnerships ended. Orford had competed with Thomas Williams for five seasons, winning the 2011 Canadian junior title and a senior bronze medal in 2013. But that partnership concluded when Williams announced his retirement after 2015 nationals, at which the couple finished fourth. With no new partner on the horizon, Orford signed up for a full course load in the health-sciences program at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia. She also made plans to work with young skaters at her home base, the Inlet Skating Club, in Port Moody. She was moving on with her life, or so it seemed. Hill did not skate at all during the 2014-2015 season. His longtime partner, Kharis…

Russia dominated the 2016 European Championships, capturing seven of the 12 medals awarded. France, Germany, Israel, Italy and Spain each claimed one. Javier Fernández was well on his way to securing a fourth European title, winning the short with a solid performance and a new personal best score of 102.54. “It’s the first time I passed 100 points, so it’s something big for me,” Fernández said. “We took a big risk, as it was my first time doing two quads in a short, but I think it was worth it.” Fernández left it all on the ice in his “Guys and Dolls” free skate. Though his performance was not perfect, an aura about him suggested there would be only one winner. When a score of 200.23 for the free and…

The 2016 U.S. Championships ushered in a new era in all four disciplines contested in St. Paul, Minn. For Adam Rippon, in his eighth appearance, the national title was a long time coming. Sitting in third after the short, the 26-year-old remained confident that he could pull off a victory. “I know I can nail a great free,” he said. “I did it last year. I’m ready to do that.” Rippon opened his long program with a fall on a quad Lutz but skated the rest of the program, set to a Beatles medley, without any further errors. He landed eight triple jumps and was rewarded with Level 4s across the board for his other elements. But it was the program component scores that really set Rippon apart from the…

The Olympic Center in Lake Placid, N.Y., was steeped in nostalgia on the evening of December 30, when Ekaterina Gordeeva hosted “From the Heart,” a memorial show to mark the 20th anniversary of the death of her first husband, Sergei Grinkov. Scott Hamilton, Kristi Yamaguchi, Paul Wylie, Yuka Sato, Ilia Kulik, David Pelletier, Meryl Davis and Charlie White and Patrick Chan headlined the gala evening. Canadian pairs skaters Lubov Ilyushechkina and Dylan Moscovitch, 2015 U.S. junior champion Andrew Torgashev, Russian ice dancers Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov and Israel’s Daniel Samohin rounded out the cast. Gordeeva’s elder daughter, Daria Grinkova, and Hamilton emceed the show. Both related anecdotes throughout the evening, recalling some of their fondest memories of Grinkov. “He was an amazing guy, and when I look back on…

Aliona Savchenko and Bruno Massot, Germany’s new pairs team, claimed the silver medal in their debut at the European Championships in January. But capturing a medal was overshadowed by their obvious joy at once again competing at a major international event after a long, and what often seemed like a futile, waiting game. The duo had to wait 18 months for Massot to be released by the French Federation to be eligible to represent Germany. It was a special moment for Savchenko and Massot when they took to the ice for their short program. A few steps into their routine, set to “Creature de Siam,” a playful, somewhat melancholic piece of accordion music from a “Cirque du Soleil” soundtrack, the audience erupted in applause. Technical problems marred the free skate…

Some familiar names from the past popped up on the Jumbotron at the 2016 U.S. Championships. The Russian influence has been present at nationals for almost two decades in the form of coaches and choreographers, but, as their children grow up, a new tradition is unfolding. Maxim Naumov, the son of the 1994 World pairs champions Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, is one of them. In January, the 14-year-old won the bronze medal in the novice men’s event. “It was a great feeling. It was a relief,” said his father Vadim, who co-coaches his son. “I felt so much pressure for him. I am thankful that everything ended up well.” Shishkova, who is one of Maxim’s choreographers, admitted that she was too nervous to be in the arena for his…

The temperature plummeted, and snow fell in Sapporo on Christmas Day, turning the city into a winter wonderland, but it was as hot as ever inside the Makomanai Sekisui Heim Ice Arena at this year’s All-Japan Figure Skating Championships. This event was something of homecoming for Yuzuru Hanyu, the main draw for the thousands of spectators who packed the venue. Hanyu captured his first national title in Sapporo in 2012. It was in this atmosphere of high anticipation that he began his quest for his fourth national crown. In the short program, Hanyu launched himself into a quadruple Salchow straight out of a spread eagle, but when he failed to land the jump, there were audible gasps from the audience. He got himself back on track with a quad toe…

With the field as deep as it is in Japanese men’s skating, you are only as good as your last skate. Shoma Uno already understands that fact all too well. In his first full season in the senior ranks, the 18-year-old is determined not to be yesterday’s news in his nation and is continually challenging himself to take his skating to the next level. When Uno captured the 2015 World Junior title, he did so with a free skate marred with errors. He owed his victory in large part to his short program. Though he placed second at nationals last year, he was not selected to compete at the senior World Championships in Shanghai, where Japan failed for the first time in a decade to qualify three skaters for the…

As a former World and Olympic medlaist, Brian Orser had one of the most successful careers in skating history. Having coached three individual skaters to two Olympic and three World titles in six years, he knows a few things about preparing skaters for competitions. I sat down with him to talk about the strategies he used as a competitor and how he applies that knowledge to the skaters he works with. VISUALIZING SUCCESSOne of the most important elements of a competitive athlete’s regimen is a sound sleep. Orser recalled that, during the early years of his career, the nights before a competition were usually stressful and sleep challenged. “I often had trouble sleeping. I would lie in bed and visualize my jumps, often missing them. Then, I would have to…

Maxim Kovtun stepped into the world spotlight after beating Evgeni Plushenko at the Russian Championships in 2013. But three weeks later Kovtun placed fifth at Europeans, ranking lowest of the three Russian men who competed at the competition. That result cost him dearly. Plushenko, who did not compete at Europeans, was named to the 2014 Olympic team over Kovtun. A month later, Kovtun placed fourth at the 2014 World Championships, but since then he has been fighting for his place in the figure skating world. Last season, he won both his Grand Prix events and ranked fourth at the Final. This season, he placed second in the short in France but struggled at NHK Trophy, where he landed in 10th. Consistency seems to elude him. Heading into nationals last December,…

In her short career, Satoko Miyahara has continually exceeded expectations, not only of those around her, but also her own. The 17-year-old now has the unenviable burden of upholding a tradition set by the likes of Midori Ito, Shizuka Arakawa, Miki Ando and Mao Asada in keeping Japan on the World and Olympic podiums. Heading into the 2015 World Championships, Satoko Miyahara was considered an outside shot for a medal, but the diminutive teenager took the world by surprise when she came through to skate her best when it really mattered. It was an impressive debut for the Kyoto native, who claimed silver in Shanghai and extended the Japanese medal-winning streak at Worlds to 10 consecutive years. Unlike many of her rivals, both inside and outside Japan, Miyahara was never…

The 2016 Canadian Figure Skating Championships played out in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in mid-January, and the ladies final was perhaps one of the most hotly contested ever. Returning champion Kaetlyn Osmond and last year’s silver medalist, Alaine Chartrand, went one-two in the short program. Osmond took the lead on the strength of her components score, but Chartrand earned the highest technical score of the day. Gabrielle Daleman, the defending champion, sat in third. With only two berths available at the World Championships in March, laying down a solid performance in the free was imperative. Chartrand and Daleman both brought their A games, but Chartrand won the day with an almost flawless long program performance set to music from the “Gone with the Wind” soundtrack. With a total of 201.99, she…

Evgenia Medvedeva has the sprightliness of a fairy as she spins and leaps across the ice, her contagious smile captivating audiences everywhere she competes. But behind that façade lies a young woman whose will is as strong as iron. Her steely character was evident in her final year in the junior ranks, during which she won every international event she contested. Medvedeva carried that fierce competitive spirit into the senior ranks this season, mining gold at five of the six events she has so far contested. Her only defeat came at Rostelecom Cup, where she placed second behind her main rival, Elena Radionova. Medvedeva’s coach, Eteri Tutberidze, said that her young student has shown on many occasions that she possesses an iron will. “Zhenia competed at Russian nationals when she…