#2019 U.S. Figure Skating Championships

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 1.6 (after 1930)

1930 – Clessie Cummins arrives at the National Automobile Show in New York City, having driven a car powered by one of his diesel engines from Indianapolis. 1941 – United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivers his Four Freedoms speech in the State of the Union address. 1946 – The first general election ever in Vietnam is held. 1947 – Pan American Airlines becomes the first commercial airline to offer a round-the-world ticket. 1950 – The United Kingdom recognizes the People's Republic of China. The Republic of China severs diplomatic relations with the UK in response. 1951 – Korean War: Beginning of the Ganghwa massacre, in the course of which an estimated 200–1,300 South Korean communist sympathizers are slaughtered. 1960 – National Airlines Flight 2511 is destroyed in mid-air by a bomb, while en route from New York City to Miami. 1960 – The Associations Law comes into force in Iraq, allowing registration of political parties. 1967 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and ARVN troops launch "Operation Deckhouse Five" in the Mekong River delta. 1968 – Aeroflot Flight 1668 crashes near Olyokminsk, killing 45. 1969 – Allegheny Airlines Flight 737 crashes in Lafayette Township, McKean County, Pennsylvania, United States, killing 11. 1974 – In response to the 1973 oil crisis, daylight saving time commences nearly four months early in the United States. 1974 – Aeroflot Flight H-75 crashes near Mukachevo, killing 24. 1989 – Satwant Singh and Kehar Singh are sentenced to death for conspiracy in the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi; the two men are executed the same day. 1992 – President of Georgia Zviad Gamsakhurdia flees the country as a result of the military coup. 1993 – Indian Border Security Force units kill 55 Kashmiri civilians in Sopore, Jammu and Kashmir, in revenge after militants ambushed a BSF patrol. 1993 – Four people are killed when Lufthansa CityLine Flight 5634 crashes on approach to Charles de Gaulle Airport in Roissy-en-France, France. 1994 – U.S. figure skater Nancy Kerrigan is attacked and injured by an assailant hired by her rival Tonya Harding's ex-husband during the U.S. Figure Skating Championships. 1995 – A chemical fire in an apartment complex in Manila, Philippines, leads to the discovery of plans for Project Bojinka, a mass-terrorist attack. 2000 – The last natural Pyrenean ibex, Celia, is killed by a falling tree, thus making the species extinct. 2005 – Edgar Ray Killen is indicted for the 1964 murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner during the American Civil Rights Movement. 2005 – A train collision in Graniteville, South Carolina, United States, releases about 60 tons of chlorine gas. 2012 – Twenty-six people are killed and 63 wounded when a suicide bomber blows himself up at a police station in Damascus. 2017 – Five people are killed and six others injured in a mass shooting at Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport in Broward County, Florida. 2019 – Forty people are killed in a gold mine collapse in Badakhshan province, in northern Afghanistan. 2019 – Muhammad V of Kelantan resigns as the Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia, becoming the first monarch to do so. 2021 – Supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump attack the United States Capitol to disrupt certification of the 2020 presidential election, resulting in five deaths and evacuation of the U.S. Congress.

[dupagefsc]

2019 U.S. Figure Skating Championships

Congratulations to our wonderful DuPage FSC skaters on a fantastic job at the 2019 US Nationals Championships!

  Tomoki Hiwatashi - 4th, Championship Men

Jessica Calalang - 5th, Championship Pairs

Alexa Scimeca Knierim - 7th, Championship Pairs

☆ Laiken Lockley & Keenan Prochnow ☆ - JUNIOR PAIRS CHAMPIONS

Isabelle Inthisone - 3rd, Novice Ladies

Abby Slovin- 12th, Novice Ladies

☆And our congratulations to Laiken Lockley & Keenan Prochnow on being named to the 2019 World Junior Championships Team!☆

[virtchandmoir]

The 2019-2020 season had been an up-and- down affair for the team. In the fall of 2019 the duo finished second at their first competition, the U.S. Figure Skating Classic and third at Nebelhorn Trophy. They won the Asian Open Figure Skating Trophy but struggled at their Grand Prix stops, finishing sixth at both Skate America and NHK Trophy. After having just one competition in the fall of 2020, Carreira and Ponomarenko were understandably excited about competing at the national championships. Learning they would not be able to do so was the tipping point and ultimately the catalyst that forced them sit back and assess what their goals were, and what would be the best course of action to achieve them.

“As we were not able to go to nationals, Anthony and I had a lot of discussions that week and the week after. A lot of things had been building up and that was when we knew it was time to make a change, and when we made the final decision,” Carreira explained.

“Not being able to compete at nationals was the final deciding factor,” Ponomarenko added. “There were a lot of reasons why we wanted to make a change, and though it was not easy for us we looked at each other and said, ‘it is time.’”

While they knew where they wanted to go and with whom they wished to train, no firm plan had been put in place at the time of their decision. When the dust settled, Carreira and Ponomarenko reached out to the coaching team at the I.AM Academy in Montréal to enquire about moving there to train. With 14 elite level dance teams already in their stable, Marie-France Dubreuil, Patrice Lauzon and Romain Haguenauer had to decide whether they could take on another one.

“We spoke to the people in Montréal but obviously they have so many teams and because it is a pre-Olympic season, there were many factors to be considered,” said Carreira, 21. “Patrice (Lauzon) called us back and said he had a little bit of bad news for us. I was like, ‘oh no. What’s next?’ We were not allowed to go to nationals so what more bad news could you give us?”

The “bad news” actually turned out to be the opposite for Carreira and Ponomarenko. The academy had recently opened a branch in London, Ontario, where Moir is the skating director, and the idea Lauzon proposed would offer them the best of both worlds. They would work with all the coaches in Montréal, but their training base would be in London and Moir would be their main coach.

“We were like, ‘that’s awesome!’ He could tell that we were really happy but he told us to sit on it and think about it overnight. We went back to him the next day with a solid yes,” Carreira explained. “We have worked with Scott before, and we really enjoyed working with him. He has so much enthusiasm and energy and will help us explore our full potential.”

“It was the best news we had heard all week,” Ponomarenko added. “We were really happy about it. We still get the Montréal coaching along with Scott.”

As first alternates for the 2021 World Championships, the duo had to continue training in the U.S. in case one of the teams that were scheduled to compete in Stockholm became injured or sick. They spent the remainder of their time in Michigan training at a rink in Canton. During those weeks, they had dance classes over Zoom with Sam Chouinard in Montréal and lessons with Lauzon and Moir.

“Greg Zuerlein was in Canton and he was a coach we had worked with in the past so we were happy to be able to call him and train with him. So it was a mix of people,” said Ponomarenko. The duo made the official move to train with Moir on March 30.

[...]

Both said their parents are thrilled with the coaching change they have made. “After we moved to seniors a few years ago, my dad (the 1992 Olympic ice dance champion, Sergei Ponomarenko) called me one day and said, ‘I really want you to work with Scott Moir to make this happen,’” Ponomarenko recalled. “Now every time we talk about it he says, ‘I told you so.’ They are very excited for this new adventure and think it is going to be great. They are very happy.”

—IFS Magazine

[gogogogolev]

Stephen has been named to the 2022 World Junior Figure Skating Championships, taking place in Sofia, Bulgaria March 7-13. Good luck to Stephen!

ETA: The Canadian Press has published an article about Stephen's selection for Junior Worlds. The extract relating to him:

Gogolev, who missed senior championships with COVID-19, named to world junior team

OTTAWA - Stephen Gogolev, who was forced to withdraw from last week’s Canadian senior figure skating championships due to COVID-19, has been named to Canada’s team for the world junior championships.

The 17-year-old from Toronto trains in the U.S., and while he tested negative before travelling to Ottawa, he was randomly selected for a PCR test upon landing and tested positive.

Gogolev won silver at the 2019 Canadian championships when he was just 14. He won the junior Grand Prix Final the same year.

[fyeahkarenchen]

Karen Chen’s figure skating issues had nothing to do with her graceful glides across the ice. Nor was it about her ability to land artful triple jumps when she felt confident.

But since winning the 2017 U.S. championship, Chen had been on a downward spiral that just about pushed her out of the sport.

Then came the season disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic that ends this week at the World Team Trophy competition in Japan.

Chen, 21, has been one of the major comeback stories a year before the Beijing Winter Olympics by vaulting to the top of U.S. skating.

But don’t expect Chen to celebrate her revival. As good as it feels, Chen said she knows it will take an even bigger effort to earn an Olympic medal next year.

“Wanting to be a medal contender I do need a triple axel, and hopefully more,” Chen told the Bay Area News Group.

Chen concludes the season at the World Team Trophy competition starting Thursday in Osaka, Japan. The competition involves the six best figure skating teams of the 2020-21 season — Canada, France, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States. Each team includes two women, two men, one pairs team and one ice dance team.

Chen and Bradie Tennell will represent the women while world three-time world champion Nathan Chen (no relation) leads the men.

Karen Chen heads to Japan three weeks after a clutch performance at the World Championships to help the United States earn a third berth to the Beijing Games in women’s singles.

Chen succeeded in finishing no worse than fourth place after U.S. champion Tennell struggled with a boot issue and was ninth.

Skaters needed a combined total of 13 or fewer points to be eligible for a third spot. Now, a U.S. skater other than Chen or Tennell must confirm the berth in September at the Olympic qualifying event in Oberstdorf, Germany.

Chen had performed a similar feat in 2017 at her first World Championships when taking fourth after American champion Ashley Wagner struggled.

Chen, the daughter of Taiwanese immigrants, has been crucial to the United States’ Olympics fortunes at a time when Asian American and Pacific Islander demonstrations have highlighted racial injustice faced by those communities.

“It has been heartbreaking,” she said. “I just hope that being Asian American and going out chasing my dreams and goals can inspire other people. Maybe shine some light in the darkness that has been around.”

Chen said she does not recall facing racism while growing up in Fremont. She said having 1992 Olympic champion Kristi Yamaguchi as a mentor helped.

“Her being able to accomplish so many things, off the ice as well, gave me hope If she can do it I can do it,” Chen said.

Nathan Chen, the son of Chinese immigrants, was more forceful in speaking with reporters after winning his third consecutive world title.

“I’m disgusted by the amount of hate and violence that has occurred [against] Asian Americans in the U.S. It’s just unacceptable,” he said.

Karen Chen performs best when shutting out the world. So it’s not surprising she is more comfortable discussing her journey back to the ice than political issues.

Chen has enjoyed her first-injury-free season since competing at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games in South Korea where she finished 11th. Chen said she also has solved equipment issues that exacerbated the problems.

“I do think people thought that Karen’s time is over,” Chen said. “I definitely felt that way, too, after the Olympic season.”

Chen said she still wanted to compete but a recurring foot injury stopped her progress. It also took months to find reliable skating boots.

“Honestly, there was a time when I thought, ‘OK, maybe it is a time to move on with my life,” Chen said.

She enrolled in Cornell in 2019 and began life as a young adult while also dabbling in training near campus. Chen said the situation left her conflicted because she did not want to end her career with that frustrating Olympic ranking.

Chen said she learned how important skating was to her while a student.

“That’s when I realized I am addicted to this sport,” Chen said.

Also, figure skaters have a narrow window before it becomes too difficult to compete on the international level because “all these Russian girls and Japanese girls, they are all so young and doing these quads and amazing triples,” Chen said.

Not to mention Richmond’s Alysa Liu, who landed triple axels three years ago to win her first U.S. title at age 13.

Chen took two years off from Cornell to try to qualify for another Winter Games. Afterward, she said she plans to return to the Ivy League school to pursue a major in human development.

Chen said she has enjoyed skating more this go around. She said she was overwhelmed with stress, anxiety and pressure as the 2017 national champion heading into the ’18 Olympic season.

“It was a roller coaster of mental breakdowns,” Chen said.

Chen said she has matured since living away from family at Cornell and now at Colorado Springs, Colorado, where she trains.

“I am skating from my heart and I am skating for myself,” Chen said. “I know there are all these expectations. I know I want to make the Olympic team. But at the end of the day what I care about is how I skate.”

Chen’s ambitions are big for next season. She wants to master a triple axel, a 3 ½ rotation jump that gives her more points. American women also might need to start landing quadruple jumps for any chance of ending an Olympic medal drought that began at the Vancouver Games in 2010.

Chen said she plans to focus on a triple axel after the competition in Japan. She also said it is more difficult to try something so demanding as a young adult.

“When I was younger if my coach said to go do something I would do it,” Chen said. “I didn’t have a brain. Now, if someone says try this, I’m like, ‘Oh, I don’t know. It seems kind of scary.’ ”

Chen said she wants to do land the axel regardless of what it means for her Olympic chances.

“I want to know what it feels like to land a triple axel,” Chen said. “I don’t know what that feeling will be. I really want to know.”

[geckomoon]

Yuri!!! on ice as irl skaters (part 1???)

Its 2020 and I miss yoi so here are my personal headcanons about which irl skater the you cast skate &/or act like because why the hell not.

(photos at the bottom of the post because I couldn't get the format to work the way I wanted it to)

Yuri Katsuki ➡️ Boyang Jin (China)/Evgenia Medvedeva (Russia)

Yes, 2 people because PARALLELS.

So my reason for saying Yuri is like Boyang is because, his step sequences are always gorgeous and his jumping power, oofttttt, and that one scene where Yuri tries a jump and lands in the wall, you know the one. Boyang Jin is known for jumping super close to the boards and scaring the hell out of us all, seriously, just watch one of his skates, it's amazing and terrifying. Also Boyang is a bit of a nerd and Yuri is canonicaly pretty into video games, nuff said.

Boyang is a two-time World bronze medalist (2016–2017), the 2018 Four Continents champion, a two-time Four Continents silver medalist (2016, 2019), the 2017 Asian Winter Games silver medalist, and a five-time (2014–2017, 2019) Chinese national champion.

Evgenia however, this is more of a parallel in how her 2018/19 season went and how Yuri kinda flopped. Zhenya had a crappy start to the 18/19 season, she'd just switched coaches and mover halfway across the world, for the 1st time in her senior career she didn't make the gpf. However by the end of the season she had bounced back and won bronze at worlds and my god what a skate that fp was. Remind you of anyone huh???

Evgenia has a lot of medals (and actually made a cameo in the end credits of episode 10) She is a two-time Olympic silver medalist (2018 ladies' singles, 2018 team event), a two-time world champion (2016, 2017), a two-time European champion (2016, 2017), a two-time Grand Prix Final champion (2015, 2016), a two-time Russian national champion (2016, 2017), silver medalist at the 2018 European Figure Skating Championships and bronze medalist at the 2019 World Championships. Also, she is a huge Anime fan and has a sailor moon exhibition program and its adorable.

Victor Nikiforov ➡️ Yuzuru Hanyu (Japan)

I know a lot of people compare Yuri to Yuzu but I think Victor is a better fit.

Yuzuru has a legion of super duper dedicated fans, they are pretty scary at times. If you watch the 2018 Olympics, the ice literally was covered in Pooh bears after his skate. People love this man, and rightly so. Clearly Yuri isn't the only one who loves Victor, he's very popular in the yoi skating world and almost everyone loves and looks up to him.

His skates are almost immaculate every time. Not only is his technique amazing but his artistry is what really sets him apart from other skaters who may have higher bv on jumps etc. Not that he dosent have high bv, seriously he tries combos that are super wierd just for the bv (see the wierd 4t-3a combo thing he does idk). Plus he's dead set on doing a quad axel. See Victor's super high bv with all the quads and also the fact everyone goes nuts over how his skating is 'like no other'.

Also his medal collection is absolutely mad, he is a two-time Olympic champion (2014, 2018), two-time World champion (2014, 2017), four-time Grand Prix Final champion (2013–2016), Four Continents champion (2020) and three times silver medalist (2011, 2013, 2017). Just like how Victor is canonicaly an Olympic champion and 5x world champion and probably many time euros champ.

Also, he's a sweetheart, he literally crawled behind Shoma Uno because he didn't want the attention taken away from Shoma. I love him.

Victor Nikiforov gives big Yuzuru Hanyu energy.

Yuri Plisetsky ➡️ Yulia Lipnitskaya (Russia)/Alexandra Trusova (Russia)

Again, 2 people.

It's canon that Yuri P was modeled after Yulia for the flexibility and artistic portion of his skates so I feel like I don't need to elaborate much in it however his determination and his wanting to back load with quads reminds me a lot of Sasha Trusova.

Sasha only started juniors the year after yoi came out (she had a Makkachin tissue box which was given to her by Evgenia M which is adorable) so she was not really that popular when the show was being made but she really made a statement when she became the 1st woman to land 2 quads in 1 program (4 salchow and 4 toeloop) at the age of 13 at 2018 junior worlds.

She has just started senior and this season she had 5 quads in one program and I think I cried. She now has a quad sal, toe, flip and lutz and is apparently working on a loop. On top of that she can land a 3 axel but has yet to do so in competition. Did I mention SHE'S 15 AND I'M TERRIFIED.

She currently holds the world record for the free skate (166.62 points). She is the 2020 European Bronze Medalist, the 2019 Grand Prix Final bronze medalist, the 2019 Skate Canada champion, the 2019 Rostelecom Cup champion, the 2019 CS Ondrej Nepela champion, the 2019 Russian national silver medalist, and the 2020 Russian national bronze medalist.

Her determination to win and high TES reminds me of Yurio a lot.

Phichit Chulanont ➡️ Nam Nguyen (Canada)

This one is fun.

I love Nam with all my heart, he's actually my favourite male skater and not just because of his skating. However his skating is great. He is the 2014 World Junior champion, 2019 Skate Canada silver medalist, and two-time Canadian national champion (2015, 2019). He has placed as high as fifth at the World Championships, in 2015. He's not the best skater ever, kinda like Phichit but his personality shines through so much when he skates and I love it.

My main comparison to Phichit is the fact that Nam Nguyen is a huge meme. His Instagram is one of the most hilarious things I've ever seen (@ namnamnoodle). I can't explain it with words seriously just go look at it, he makes memes using professionnally taken skating photos of himself and honestly it's just a giggle. He's almost always posting on his story and half the videos he takes end up on fan twitter and everyone freaks out.

Also he's good friends with Evgenia, thought I'd mention that seeing as who I compared her to :)).

Yeah, Phichit and Nam are memes and I adore them both.

Jean-Jacques Leroy ➡️ Nathan Chen (USA)

Jj is definitely more of a technical focused skater. He tends to put all his eggs in the '800000 quads' bucket and isn't as artistic, in my humble opinion.

Just like Nathan surprisingly, though Nate isn't as egotistical (not a dig, just an observation).

Nathan is compared to Yuzu a lot, and had actually scored higher than him a few times in competition. He is an amazing jumper and is the first skater to have landed five types of quadruple jumps in competitions: toe loop, Salchow, loop, flip and Lutz. Currently he is two-time World champion (2018, 2019), a 2018 Winter Olympic bronze medalist in the team event, the 2017 Four Continents champion, three-time Grand Prix Final champion (2017, 2018, 2019), and four-time U.S. national champion (2017, 2018, 2019, 2020).

So yeah, he's good.

However at the 2018 Olympics (he was only 18 at the time) he bombed under pressure in the team event and in the sp, only to come back with a WR free skate, but didn't medal because of his sp score,kinda like how Jj bombed at the GPF. (Ngl, I cried in school when I saw Nate bomb at the Olympics, I was so upset).

Also, Nathan is super smart and is training to be a doctor. Not related to Jj but I thought I would point it out.

Christophe Giacometti➡️ Adam Rippon (USA)/Javier Fernández (Spain)

Chris is a hard one to pin to an irl skater because he's just so... Chris.

The closest comparison I can get is Adam Rippon but dialed up to 11 because Adam is quite a bit more tame than Chris is. However he did have a point in his sp where he literally beckons the judges to him in a way that can only be described as vaguely sexual. Seeing that at the Olympics was an event I'll tell you that.

Adam was the first openly gay man to make a U.S. Winter Olympic team, and the first to win a medal at the Winter Games. (team bronze).

Plus, I'm pretty sure he owned a Chris plushie at one point or another.

However other than the obvious Chrissness, his technique and medal winning achievements most closely match up with Javier Fernández (who may I add is pretty much Yuzuru Hanyu's best friend). He is the 2018 Olympic bronze medalist, a two-time World champion (2015, 2016), a two-time World bronze medalist (2013, 2014), a seven-time European champion (2013–2019), a two-time Grand Prix Final silver medalist (2014, 2015), a three-time Rostelecom Cup champion (2014–2016), a two-time Grand Prix in France champion (2016–2017) and an eight-time Spanish national champion (2010, 2012–2018). Javi is an amazing skater but usually ended up playing 2nd fiddle to Yuzuru on the world stage, but with euros, he literally won 7 times consecutively. Anndddd, he was the flag bearer for Spain at the 2014 Olympics and I still cry about it.

Otabek Altin➡️ Denis Ten (Kazakhstan)/ Matteo Rizzo

So it's canon that Otabek was based on Denis (rip Denis) so like Yuri and Yulia I do not feel like I need to elaborate much as you can read it on the wikia page. But Otabek also reminds me of a less talkative version of Matteo Rizzo. Matteo is the 2019 European bronze medalist, 2018 NHK Trophy bronze medalist, 2019 Winter Universiade champion, and 2018 Italian national champion.

The reason he reminds me of Otabek is that they just joth exude the same level of cool and I can't explain it any further than that. That's it. Just watch him skate and you'll see.

So that's all I have for now because this post got pretty long so if this gets enough attention I'll do a part 2 :)).

[thescribblerqueen]

Figure Skating Events: Fanfiction Guideline

(AKA: The guide I’m writing out because I figured there had to be more skating competitions that the Grand Prix series, Nationals, 4CC, Olympics, and Worlds but god are the Wikipedia pages for them a mess.)

So, the Wikipedia page for the list of figure skating events is vaguely a mess if you intend to use it for Yuri on Ice fanfiction like I do, so I took some time to read through it and make sense of the qualifications, multiple listings/renaming of events, outdated/short-lived events, and missing hyperlinks to pages about the events. I’ll try to link everything I can and hope I don’t mess up.

Fall Events:

ISU Grand Prix Series/Junior ISU Grand Prix Series

These series are specifically for the top ranking international skaters, and they are both slightly different between senior and junior levels. It was formerly named the ISU Champion Series. I’ve listed approximate dates they are held on.

Grand Prix for Seniors has 6 Events:

Skate America (~Oct. 18-20)

Skate Canada International (~Oct. 25-27)

Cup of China (~Nov. 8-10) *Note in 2018 was temporarily replaced with Cup of Helsinki but resumed in 2019

Trophée de France (~Nov. 13-15)

Rostelecom Cup (~Nov. 15-17)

NHK Trophy (~Nov. 22-24)

Grand Prix Final (~Dec. 10-13)

The Junior Grand Prix has different qualifying events but shares the final with the senior event. It usually has ~7 qualifying events that alternate every year from a list of 35 events. Meaning the qualifying events change from year to year. 

*Note Uzbeikistan was supposed to be a new 2020 event and an additional 36th event. 

If you want to know what events were during a specific year/season I’ve provided a google docs excel sheet here.

There is also another skating competition series that is ranked directly below the Grand Prix Series but above the other competitions called:

The ISU Challenger Series (Created in 2014)

This series is also held in the fall around the same time (August 1st-December 15th) as the Grand Prix Series. It is a senior only event, but some events predate the series and have junior competitions that are not part of the series.

Events:

Asian Open Trophy (~Oct. 30th-Nov. 3): This event existed prior to the Challenger Series and was called The Asian Figure Skating Championships. It is either held in China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Philippines or Taipei. It has existed since 2007 and was a Challenger Series event in 2018 & 2019. Until 2018, it was only open to Asian Countries. It is both Junior and Senior Level. *Note was not held in 2009.

Autumn Classic International (Sept.12-14th): It has existed since 2014 and occurs in Canada. It is a Junior and Senior Level event. *Note it was not a Challenger Event in 2015.

Finlandia Trophy (~Oct. 9-11th): This competition predates the Challenger Series and was established in 1995.Is held in Finland. It is a senior level event only. Has been part of Challenger since 2014. 

Golden Spin of Zagreb (~Dec.5-8th): This predates the Challenger and is held in Croatia. It has always been a senior level event and Junior since 2017. Only the senior level event is Challenger. 

Ice Star (~Oct. 18-20th): Predates the challenger series and has only been included in 2017 & 2019. Held in Belarus.

Lombardia Trophy (~Sept. 13-15th): Predates 2013 and is event since 2014 but not in 2015. Held in Italy. Has both Juniors and Seniors.

Nebelhorn Trophy (~Sept. 25-28th): Predates 1969 as seniors only. Challenger event since 2014. Held in Germany.

Ondrej Nepela Trophy (~Sept. 19-21st): Predates 1993 as seniors only. Challenger event since 2014. Held in Slovakia.

Warsaw Cup (~Nov. 14-17th): Existed since 2012, seniors and Juniors. Challenger since 2014 except for 2018. Held in Poland.

U.S. International Classic (~Sept. 17-22nd): Existed since 2012 and Challenger since 2014. Seniors only.

*Note: You can use Figure Skating Fandom Wiki to see what countries participate.

Former events:  Denkova-Staviski Cup (2015 Oct. 20-25th Bulgaria),  Inge Solar Memorial – Alpen Trophy (2018, Nov. 11-18th Austria), Ice Challenge (2014,2015, Nov. 11-16 & Oct. 27-31st , Austria),  Mordovian Ornament (2015, Oct. 15-18th, Russia), Tallinn Trophy (2015-2018, Mid Nov. Estonia), Volvo Open Cup (2014, Nov. 5-9th Latvia).

After both Fall series end in December most countries have a National Championship or send skaters based on their international ranking.

After that there are ISU Championships.

1. European Figure Skating Championships AKA Europeans (January)

2. Four Continents Figure Skating Championships AKA 4CC (February) 

3. World Junior Figure Skating Championships (Late February/ Early March)

4. World Figure Skating Championships  (4th Monday of Feb. & 2 weeks after 4CC or Europeans)

Bonus: The Nordic Championships but only Christophe Giacometti would compete.

There is also a list of Annual competitions that do not fall under these categories.

International Cup of Nice: (Oct-Nov in Nice,France) Has been held since 1995 with the exception of 2005. Both Senior and Junior event.

Bavarian Open: (Early Feb. in Germany) Has been an ISU event since 2011. Both Senior and Junior Event.

Egna Spring Trophy: (End March Italy) Held since 2011, both Junior and Senior event.

Coupe Du Printemps/Spring Cup: (March Luxembourg) Held since 2012, both Junior and Senior events.

Japan Open: (~Oct. 5) 

The Japan Open is an annual senior international figure skating team competition organized by the Japan Skating Federation. The current format (team event) was established in 2006. The competition is held every autumn in Japan. Invited skaters compete in the disciplines of men’s and ladies’ singles. Skaters perform a free program but no short. Individual results are combined for a team standing.

Medals Winner Open: An event held in 2012 (Oct.), 2015, 2016 (Jan.) by the JSF and sanctioned by ISU. Invitational event for skaters that won medals in major ISU competitions like Grand Prix, Europeans,4CC, Worlds & Olympics. It’s a senior only event where skaters preform only a free program and they are scored heavily on artistic values. Was hosted in Japan.

World Team Trophy: (~April 16-19, Japan) Held in 2009, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2017, & 2019. A team competition between six countries ( the US, Canada, Japan, France, Russia and China).

Multi-Sport Events Hosted on alternative Years/ Non-Olympic

Winter Universiade: Held every 2 years since 1960′s (expect between ‘72 & ’81). Is a multi sport event. Dates vary.

Winter Asian Games: Held in 1986,1990,1996,1999,2003,2007,2011, & 2017. Is a multi sport event. Dates vary. Held in Japan, China, South Korea, or Kazakhstan.

Obviously the Olympics as well but I shouldn’t need to mention but the official last event of the year is: 

Triglav Trophy. It is held in April in Slovenia, and is both a senior and junior event.

Okay, so I think I covered every competition that a male single’s figure skater could compete in during the time frame of the Yuri on Ice characters skating careers. These were all pulled from the List on Wikipedia and organized over several hours. Hopefully there are no issues with the links.

[sportsintersections]

16 Awesome Queer Sports Books: Books with LGBTQIA+ Athlete Representation

Image: Daniela Porcelli/Getty Images.

In some ways, the last few years has been a golden time for LGBTQIA+ athletes. The 2019 Women’s World Cup was a record tournament for LGBTQ+ visibility, with at least five players on the U.S. women’s national soccer team being openly queer (Ali Krieger and her now-wife Ashlyn Harris, Megan Rapinoe, A.D. Franch, and Tierna Davidson), as well as coach Jill Ellis, and another player coming out in the moment captured in the photo above, kissing her girlfriend in celebration. Rapinoe’s girlfriend, Sue Bird, another out lesbian athlete who plays in the WNBA, wrote an open letter to the President of the United States. A blockbuster movie told the story of iconic out lesbian tennis star Billie Jean King. Jason Paul Collins came out in 2013 (but retired the following year). Michael Sam was the first openly gay man to be drafted into the NFL in 2014 (but he has since retired).

But, according to the Human Rights Campaign, 70% of LGBTQIA+ people don’t come out to their teammates while still playing a sport, and 82% of athletes have witnessed homophobic and/or transphobic language in their sport. It is still more common, especially for male athletes, to come out after they have already left their sport (TW for homophobic slurs/statements and suicidal ideation), and many athletes who are still playing face backlash (TW for misgendering & general transphobia).

These books, from memoirs by professional queer athletes to YA romances with LGBTQIA+ athlete protagonists, explore these issues and more. 

Books are YA fiction unless otherwise noted.

Spinning, by Tillie Walden (graphic memoir)

This beautiful graphic novel memoir captures Tillie’s experience with figure skating and why she eventually decided to give it up. Full review here.

Girl Crushed, by Katie Heaney

Quinn thought her senior year would be perfect: college scouts recruiting her to her dream school for D1 soccer and her best-friend-turned-girlfriend at her side. But then Jamie dumps her, a month before the school year begins, and it’s getting a little late to have heard back from schools, if she’s going to end up on one of the top teams. Over the course of the school year, Quinn learns that her binary black-and-white, gay-and-straight, success-and-failure ways of seeing her world could stand to be a little more complicated. This book is about identity, self-esteem, friendship, crushes, and soccer. There are also many fun USWNT references! TW for some (challenged) bisexual erasure.

The Reappearing Act: Coming Out on a College Basketball Team Led by Born-Again Christians, by Kate Fagan (adult memoir)

Kate was thrilled to be playing basketball for a nationally-ranked school and to have a close-knit group of teammates. Her best friends were part of Colorado’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and she tried to join them and learn about their church, but she started to realize that she might be one of those people whose “sinful lifestyles” they talked about. She had to figure out how to come out without losing her friends, and her team.

Check, Please! Volume 1, by Ngozi Ukazu (graphic novel)

This adorable graphic novel (which was originally published as a popular webcomic) follows Bitty, a former junior figure skating champion and enthusiastic baker, who somehow ended up on the Samwell University hockey team. He’s terrified of checking (what if he gets hurt??), trying to figure out if he can win over the guys with pies, and also feeling some kind of way about the hot but grumpy captain.

Keeper of the Dawn, by Dianna Gunn

Lai wants to become a priestess, like her mother and grandmother were before her, but first she must prove herself in the trials she’s been training for her whole life. Nothing goes according to plan, but she can still depend on herself and her skill as a fighter and a horseback rider and take matters into her own hands. This fantasy novel features an asexual protagonist and a f/f romance.

The Passing Playbook, by Isaac Fitzsimmons (2020/2021 release)

This book hasn’t been released yet, but there are so few (if any) own voices YA sports books with trans characters that I decided to include it anyway. A queer, biracial, trans soccer player is benched, and has to decide whether to fight the ruling, even though that would mean coming out to everyone…including the Christian teammate he’s falling for.

Running with Lions, by Julian Winters

This coming-of-age novel follows Sebastian, a bisexual rising senior who’s excited for his last summer at soccer camp, where his teammates are great and the coach doesn’t expect anyone to stay in the closet. But then Emir Shah, a Muslim British-Pakistani new recruit, shows up. He also happens to be Sebastian’s former best friend, and they left things on pretty bad terms. So why is he finding himself attracted to Emir all of the sudden?

None of the Above, by I.W. Gregorio

I am hesitant to recommend this non-ownvoices intersex representation, but it’s the only book I know of about an intersex teen athlete, and, while it is imperfect and seems geared towards a non-intersex audience, there are certainly some good things to be said about it. It is informative, well-researched, and moving. Kristin, a homecoming queen and champion hurdler with a cute boyfriend, seems to be having a great high school experience. But a doctor’s visit reveals that she’s intersex, and, while she’s still coming to terms with what that might mean for her and her identity, her diagnosis is leaked to the whole school. TW for transphobic/anti-intersex slurs and bullying.

Forward: My Story, Young Readers’ Edition, by Abby Wambach (memoir)

U.S. Women’s National Team soccer star Abby Wambach tells her story with honesty and vulnerability, sharing how she came to lead her team to a World Cup win in 2015. She is open about her sexuality and romantic life (including a named mention of a certain pink-haired teammate, who also happens to be her ex-girlfriend) and how it affected her career.

We Ride Upon Sticks, by Quan Barry (adult fiction, with teen protagonists)

The 1989 Danvers high field hockey team finds themselves winning…a lot. Is it because they all wrote their names in a mysterious notebook with Emilio Estevez on the cover, and pledged themselves to dark forces so they could make the state championships? This darkly funny story explores friendship, sportsmanship, and what means to find power and sense of self as a teen girl.

Beautiful on the Outside, by Adam Rippon (adult non-fiction)

In his comedic memoir, Olympic figure skater Adam Rippon shares his journey from poverty and uncertainty to success and becoming a self-professed American sweetheart. He opens up about anxiety attacks, coming to terms with his sexuality and coming out, and some enjoyable behind-the-scenes gossip. He also narrates the audiobook.

Ana on the Edge, by A.J. Sass (middle-grade, fall 2020 release)

Twelve-year-old Ana-Marie is the reigning U.S. Juvenile figure skating champion, but that doesn’t mean everything feels easy or figured out. When Ana meets Hayden, a transgender boy, at the rink, Hayden mistakes Ana for a boy…and Ana doesn’t bother to correct him. In fact, it feels good to be seen as a boy. Now Ana must decide which identity feels the most right, in time for a big competition coming up. This book isn’t out yet, but it’s due to be released in fall 2020, and it is written by a non-binary (and autistic) author, who is also a figure skater.

Heartstopper, Volume 1, by Alice Oseman (graphic novel)

Charlie is neurotic and openly gay (after he was outed last year and bullied for months), and hoping that Year 10 at the British all-boys grammar school will be better. He meets Nick, an upbeat, sweet rugby player, and they become friends. Soon he finds himself hoping that their friendship turns into something more.

Fearless: Portraits of LGBT Student Athletes, by Jeff Sheng (non-fiction)

This is a memoir of an American artist who uses his story as a closeted high school athlete in the 1990s as a jumping-off-point to depict hundreds of photos of other LGBTQ+ high school and college athletes in the U.S. and Canada between 2003 and 2015.

Amateur, by Thomas McBee (adult memoir/non-fiction)

In this memoir, Thomas McBee describes grappling with the meaning of masculinity, violence, and sports. As a trans man, he has noticed since his transition that the world treats him completely differently and expects different things from him. But what does he want, and how does he want to define masculinity and strength for himself? He decides to train for a charity boxing match at Madison Square Garden as a way to find out.

Dryland, by Sara Jaffe

Julie is a cynical teen in Portland at the height of the grunge movement, struggling to define herself and her sexuality. No one in her family is willing to talk about her older brother, who at one point seemed destined for the Olympics but then fell off the map. Julie has never considered swimming herself, but then the swim team captain convinces her to join. Is this what she’s been looking for -- a way to get closer to her brother and maybe herself?

[All book covers belong to their respective publishers].

[guildfordd]

You give me fever when you kiss me Fever when you hold me tight

— Madison Chock & Evan Bates perform their free dance at the 2019 U.S. Figure Skating Championships

+ bonus snaps:

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 1.6 (after 1910)

1912 – New Mexico is admitted to the Union as the 47th U.S. state. 1912 – German geophysicist Alfred Wegener first presents his theory of continental drift. 1929 – King Alexander of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes suspends his country's constitution (the January 6th Dictatorship). 1929 – Mother Teresa arrives by sea in Calcutta, India, to begin her work among India's poorest and sick people. 1930 – Clessie Cummins arrives at the National Automobile Show in New York City, having driven a car powered by one of his diesel engines from Indianapolis. 1941 – United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivers his Four Freedoms speech in the State of the Union address. 1946 – The first general election ever in Vietnam is held. 1947 – Pan American Airlines becomes the first commercial airline to offer a round-the-world ticket. 1950 – The United Kingdom recognizes the People's Republic of China.[31] The Republic of China severs diplomatic relations with the UK in response. 1951 – Korean War: Beginning of the Ganghwa massacre, in the course of which an estimated 200–1,300 South Korean communist sympathizers are slaughtered. 1960 – National Airlines Flight 2511 is destroyed in mid-air by a bomb, while en route from New York City to Miami. 1960 – The Associations Law comes into force in Iraq, allowing registration of political parties. 1967 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and ARVN troops launch "Operation Deckhouse Five" in the Mekong River delta. 1969 – Allegheny Airlines Flight 737 crashes in Lafayette Township, McKean County, Pennsylvania, United States, killing 11. 1974 – In response to the 1973 oil crisis, daylight saving time commences nearly four months early in the United States. 1989 – Satwant Singh and Kehar Singh are sentenced to death for conspiracy in the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi; the two men are executed the same day. 1992 – President of Georgia Zviad Gamsakhurdia flees the country as a result of the military coup. 1993 – Indian Border Security Force units kill 55 Kashmiri civilians in Sopore, Jammu and Kashmir, in revenge after militants ambushed a BSF patrol.[ 1993 – Four people are killed when Lufthansa CityLine Flight 5634 crashes on approach to Charles de Gaulle Airport in Roissy-en-France, France.[ 1994 – U.S. figure skater Nancy Kerrigan is attacked and injured by an assailant hired by her rival Tonya Harding's ex-husband during the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.[ 1995 – A chemical fire in an apartment complex in Manila, Philippines, leads to the discovery of plans for Project Bojinka, a mass-terrorist attack.[ 2000 – The last natural Pyrenean ibex, Celia, is killed by a falling tree, thus making the species extinct. 2005 – Edgar Ray Killen is indicted for the 1964 murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner during the American Civil Rights Movement. 2005 – A train collision in Graniteville, South Carolina, United States, releases about 60 tons of chlorine gas. 2012 – Twenty-six people are killed and 63 wounded when a suicide bomber blows himself up at a police station in Damascus. 2017 – Five people are killed and six others injured in a mass shooting at Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport in Broward County, Florida. 2019 – Forty people are killed in a gold mine collapse in Badakhshan province, in northern Afghanistan. 2019 – Muhammad V of Kelantan resigns as the Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia, becoming the first monarch to do so. 2021 – Supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump attack the United States Capitol to disrupt certification of the 2020 presidential election, resulting in five deaths and evacuation of the U.S. Congress.

[sakamotokaori]

Tomoki Hiwatashi reacts to his free skate score at the 2019 U.S National Figure Skating Championships. He placed 4th overall, with a score of 253.28

[virtchandmoir]

Tessa Virtue, Scott Moir pushed ice dance boundaries throughout exemplary career

September 25, 2019

The announcement was hardly unexpected, so much so that it created little buzz even on figure skating news groups.

After all, no one thought Canadians Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir would be extending their extraordinary competitive career after taking another post-Olympic leave from the sport with yet another Olympic ice dance medal (this one a second gold) on their résumé.

And retirement is what they in fact confirmed last week.

Yet there was part of me that hoped they would come back again, especially with this season’s world championships not only in their own country but also in the same city, Montreal, as their training base before the PyeongChang Olympics.

Whether they won another world medal or not in Montreal – and a recommitted Virtue and Moir were very likely to be on the podium, if not atop it – the couple would have been awash in deserved acclaim from the home crowd, as they were in winning their first Olympic title in Vancouver in 2010 with a free dance that left me spellbound then and does the same in every re-viewing.

There will undoubtedly be some celebration of Virtue and Moir’s career as they perform on the Rock the Rink tour that begins Oct. 5 in British Columbia and meanders across Canada (with one stop in Cleveland) for nearly two months, playing mainly smaller arenas in smaller cities.

It would be more fitting if they could play the big stage, the 2020 world meet at the Bell Centre in Montreal. Maybe add them to the lineup for the gala? Skate Canada would say only they will have a role at this season’s worlds.

I had done interviews last year in PyeongChang to write an appreciation for Virtue and Moir after they won two more gold medals, team and individual, but that idea hit the digital dead letter file when the women’s singles event generated an avalanche of storylines.

Now, with the confirmation of their retirement, it’s time to use some of those interviews and the history-making achievements on their record to convey and appreciate their singular excellence.

*By the numbers: Virtue and Moir are one of two teams to win two Olympic ice dance golds, one of two to win three medals (gold-silver-gold; the other team, Marina Klimova and Sergei Ponomarenko of the Soviet Union, won bronze-silver-gold.) With two team event medals, silver and gold, Virtue and Moir have a record five Olympic figure skating medals.

In 2010, they were the youngest to win Olympic ice dance gold and the first Olympic dance champions from outside Europe. In 2018, he was the fourth-oldest man, she the third-oldest woman to win ice dance gold. They had competed against their final coaches, Marie-France Dubreuil and Patrice Lauzon, at Skate Canada in … 2006.

*British ice dance team Penny Coomes and Nicholas Buckland used their 2018 Olympic short dance as homage to their compatriots, Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, who dazzled the world with their innovative, thematic programs en route to the 1984 Olympic gold medal. Coomes and Buckland see Virtue and Moir’s skating as an extension of what Torvill and Dean had done.

“Torvill and Dean reinvigorated ice dance and took it to a place nobody had ever seen,” Coomes said. “Tessa and Scott have picked up that ball and carried it a little further.”

In the mid-1980s, there were few written rules governing ice dance, so Torvill and Dean revised the unwritten rules about programs that had left the discipline in predictable stasis.

By the time Virtue and Moir began senior international competition in fall 2006, the International Skating Union had implemented a scoring and judging system that codified everything, including ice dance.

Then a big piece of the new rules changed after 2010, with the compulsory dances eliminated. Virtue and Moir simply adapted.

“When the new judging system was introduced, you saw a lot of couples do the same things on the ice,” Coomes said. “Tessa and Scott took the rules and expanded them. Rather than stick in the box, they reached outside the box and grabbed new and innovative ideas.”

Some were in lifts created by Igor Shpilband, one of the coaches who helped them win the 2010 Olympic gold. Others came from their ability to use their surpassing skating skills to create corporeal unison that allowed two bodies to assume the moving shape of one. They were artists and technicians.

Their relationship in performance was so close and complete, especially in romantic programs, that many assumed, incorrectly, they were a couple off the ice as well.

As my colleague Lynn Rutherford wrote during her valedictory to Virtue and Moir: “Skating to the tender music from ‘The Umbrellas of Cherbourg’ or Gustav Mahler’s haunting ‘Adagietto,’ Virtue and Moir could break your heart as easily as they could spin off perfect twizzles.”

The Mahler-based free dance at the 2010 Olympics, to a piece of his Fifth Symphony, is Virtue and Moir’s transcendent masterpiece. As I wrote that night in the Chicago Tribune, they had an “exquisite interpretation … subtly underscoring the emotional power of the music and still managing eye-catching lifts and pirouettes and a striking final position worthy of ballet.”

As a whole, it was a magnificent exercise in understatement, the brilliance of simplicity, down to the costumes – she in a gossamer, white dress with some sequins from waist to shoulders, he in a white tuxedo shirt and black pants. Even in their most powerful moments of that program, what you remember is not the difficulty of the moves but the positions of their arms and bodies, of two people expressing themselves as one.

Then there was the Latin-themed short dance in 2018, an apparently incompatible mash up of “Sympathy for the Devil,” “Hotel California,” and “Oye Como Va.” Virtue and Moir made it a stunningly seamless integration of the very different music by the Rolling Stones, the Eagles and Santana, performing with so much emotional and physical energy, such sassy body heat and such finesse that their scores would allow them to take gold despite losing the free dance.

“I think Tessa and Scott have such a vast range of body of work, it’s possible for every fan and every skating person to find some program they love,” said Carol Lane, a longtime ice dance coach and Canadian TV commentator. “My favorite thing is a short dance to ‘Tears on My Pillow.’”

Virtue and Moir did that in 2004, when she was 14 years old and he 16, when they were still rising through juniors after seven years skating together.

They would compete together over a span of 21 years, so long that they would have two sets of formidable major rivals at the senior level – Meryl Davis and Charlie White of the United States until 2014; Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron after that. Coincidentally, Virtue and Moir trained in the same rink under the same coaches with first the U.S. team and then the French team while they were competing against each for Olympic and world titles.

The Canadians beat Davis and White for gold in 2010, lost to them in 2014, then beat Papadakis and Cizeron for gold in 2018. The three couples won nine of the past 10 world titles – three by Virtue and Moir, who skated in just five of those 10.

“Think back to Vancouver, the acrobatics they brought, the level of technical difficulty they brought … it was unheard of,” NBC Sports analyst and 2006 Olympic ice dance silver medalist Tanith White said. “Now [the 2018 Olympics] to see them incorporate back in the element of dance – it sounds silly, to put dance in ice dance – to bring in that musicality, that flexibility in their movement. That truly set it apart from anything anyone else is doing.”

*It only seems that Virtue and Moir rolled easily from one triumph to another during their careers.

Their move from Canada and Canadian coaches to suburban Detroit to train with demanding Russian émigrés Shpilband and Marina Zoueva in summer 2004 was fraught with teenage angst (she was 15, he 17) in an atmosphere Moir would describe as cold in a 2015 TED talk. From 2008 through 2010, Virtue battled compartment syndrome that would require surgery in each of those years and severely curtained her training immediately before their first Olympics.

And then there was the comeback after a two-year hiatus following the 2014 Olympics.

“We would be lying if we said we were just coming back to be part of the pack,” Moir said when they announced the return. “That’s definitely not the goal.”

The goal was to challenge Papadakis and Cizeron, who had used the Canadians’ absence to establish themselves as the world’s dominant ice dance team with world titles in 2015 and 2016. Despite losing the free dance, they beat the French for the 2017 World title, but just three months before the 2018 Olympics, the French beat Virtue and Moir in both programs at the Grand Prix Final.

It was just another challenge for them to overcome, even if it involved near complete revision before the Olympics of their free dance program to “Moulin Rouge.” The improvements were enough to cut the free dance point gap with the French in half from the Grand Prix Final to the Olympics. That was the difference between silver and gold.

“They are a team that has always gone for it,” said U.S. Olympic ice dancer Madison Hubbell, who trained with Virtue and Moir from 2016 to 2018. “They never seem to play it safe with their elements, with how difficult they make their programs. They always want to be better and they don’t compare themselves with other teams.”

The record books tell us Virtue and Moir had unsurpassed success. They slipped away quietly from the sport in which they are among the greatest ever. Their incomparable skating already has passed the test of time.

—NBC Sports

[sashastepanova]

christina carreira and anthony ponomarenko skate to yo soy maría and a tokio myers medley for their senior debut at the 2019 u.s. figure skating championships

[fyeahkarenchen]

Karen Chen could not help herself. Even while trying to narrow her focus only to the free skate she was about to do at the 2017 World Figure Skating Championships, the bigger picture distracted her 17-year-old mind.

As she came out for her warm-up with the leading six skaters after the short program, Chen, in her first senior worlds, glanced at the overall standings on the video board in Helsinki’s Hartwall Arena. The numbers showed that her veteran teammate, Ashley Wagner, then 25, competing in her seventh worlds after winning silver the year before, had a free skate result that left her in danger of losing ground from her seventh place after the short program.

That meant the United States was in danger of not having a third women’s spot at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, which had happened at two other Olympics when countries earned entries, in 1994 and 2010.

It meant Chen, fifth after the short program, not only realized but also admitted knowing that in this individual sport, this performance wouldn’t be only about her.

That will also be true at the 2021 World Championships beginning Wednesday in Stockholm, where Chen and reigning U.S. women’s champion Bradie Tennell are trying to earn a third women’s entry for their country at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. Whether the denouement is as dramatic as in 2017 is yet to be seen.

“2017 seems so long ago, but at the same time, when I close my eyes, I can remember my exact feelings,” Chen said via telephone a day before leaving for Sweden Friday.

“I understood what the stakes were: three spots for the Olympic team. So I did feel pressure. At the end of the day, when I stepped onto the ice and then got into my opening pose, all that started to melt away because my focus had to be just on skating my absolute best.”

Then as now, this is the math, for both the next year’s worlds and, every fourth year, for an upcoming Olympics: the top two U.S. women in the standings needed final places that added up to 13 or fewer to get the third spot.

The third U.S. skater in 2017, Mariah Bell, was not a factor after a 12th in the short program and a 13th-place free skate that would leave her 12th. Wagner’s error-filled (and 10th-place) free skate meant that as Chen took the ice, she felt there was little room for error.

“I definitely did not make her job any easier,” Wagner said then.

Chen reeled off her first eight jumps with ease before struggling on the final two, one a fall. She recovered to finish with a characteristically brilliant layback spin.

That turned out to be more than good enough, especially after reigning bronze medalist Anna Pogorilaya of Russia imploded in the free skate. Chen finished fourth and Wagner seventh. Wagner later tweeted her thanks to Chen for “saving America.”

It also turned out, fittingly, that the spot Chen saved was the one she eventually earned for the 2018 Olympics, joining Tennell and Mirai Nagasu in South Korea.

“I have my ups and downs for sure,” Chen said. “But after that performance, I was genuinely surprised about how I handled that [pressure]. Looking back at it now, it gives me confidence that if I could do it then, it is definitely in me to do it again.”

Chen has not been back to worlds since 2017. After a disappointing 11th at the 2018 Olympics, she withdrew from the 2018 worlds with a foot injury and boot issues. She missed the entire 2019 season with a stress fracture, then enrolled at Cornell University in the fall of 2019 but left after the pandemic hit, finishing her first year remotely while moving to Colorado Springs to rejoin her longtime coach Tammy Gambill. Chen is on leave this academic year and next.

“Coming off the year with the stress fracture, I wasn’t sure where I was going with my career or my life,” Chen said. “Then I decided to tack on school, which made my post-Olympic challenges even more challenging.

“I realized last year how much skating meant to me. I can’t be skating forever, so I wanted to go for another two years to try to make the Olympic team again, then refocus on school.”

Chen, third at this year’s U.S. Championships, got the second spot for Sweden over runner-up Amber Glenn based on criteria that take into account results at events over two seasons. The U.S. women did not have a third worlds/Olympic spot from 2009 through 2013, regained it from 2014 through 2018, lost it for 2019 and 2020 and had no chance for 2021 because the pandemic cancelled the 2020 worlds.

Coincidentally, Tennell also relocated to Colorado Springs last spring to work with a different coach, Tom Zakrajsek. Chen said although she and Tennell are often asked separately about regaining the third spot, they have discussed it only briefly with each other.

“There is pressure but there is nothing we can do about it,” Chen says, “What we can control is how we perform and train leading up to worlds.”

Can they reclaim the third spot? Based on the hypothetical (and highly unlikely) case that the three Russian and three Japanese women all skate cleanly, even clean performances by Tennell and Chen may leave them seventh and eighth, although a flawless Tennell would presumably have a shot at fifth even in a flawless field.

Without quads or triple axels, the programs Tennell and Chen did at 2021 nationals have substantially lower potential technical base values in the free skate than the 2021 nationals programs of the top two Russians, senior worlds rookies Anna Shcherbakova and Alexandra Trusova, and the leading Japanese woman, Rika Kihira. The two U.S. women’s base values also are slightly below the potential numbers for the third Russian, Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, who struggled with a watered-down program at her nationals because she had been sidelined by COVID-19 a couple weeks earlier.

Tennell, who has been working on a triple axel, declined to say last week if it had become consistent enough to try it at worlds. She gave a sidelong answer to the question of whether she needed higher-value jumps to ever contend for a world or Olympic medal.

“I can only go out there and skate to the best of my ability, what I’m training every day,” Tennell said last week. “As long as I do that, I think I will be happy. What more can I ask of myself than my very best?

“If I’m so worried about what everybody else is doing, it’s not a good mental strategy for me. Of course, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want a spot on that podium.”

A third Olympic spot, no matter how it comes about, would also be a worthy accomplishment.

[notebookfilledwithscrabbles]

Worlds 2019 - 6 minutes warm-up before group 6 in Men's SP by J SPORTS

Translation post 18

Original language: Japanese

Translator’s note: This is not a word-for-word translation. I paraphrased some of the things said in the broadcast to clarify the main point.

Announcer: Chizuru Kobayashi. She is a freelancer who has been working for figure skating programs on J SPORTS for years.

Commentator: Makoto Okazaki. ISU Technical Specialist and a coach. He won a bronze medal at 2001 Winter Universiade as a singles skater and has been contributing figure skating columns titled "岡崎真の目 (Eyes of Makoto Okazaki)" to Sponichi.

PA announcer: Skaters for group 6, please take the ice. 

Kobayashi: And now, here comes the final group.

Okazaki: Yes.

Kobayashi: The audience is so loud that we have to be loud as well to not be drowned out!

Okazaki: Indeed.

PA announcer: We are going to introduce the skaters in group 6 in the order of skating. Mr. Yuzuru Hanyu. Mr. Shoma Uno. Mr. Jason Brown. Mr. Mikhail Kolyada. Mr. Keegan Messing. Mr. Nathan Chen.

Kobayashi: Now they are introducing each skater. Yuzuru Hanyu, and Shoma Uno. Jason Brown of America. A bronze medalist last year, Mikhail Kolyada. Keegan Messing of Canada, and the defending champion, Nathan Chen of America.

Kobayashi: Now, the warm-up for the last group has started. We are showing the starting order again on the screen. The final group will start from the skater No. 30, Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan. Then Shoma Uno, Jason Brown, Mikhail Kolyada of Russia, Keegan Messing of Canada, Nathan Chen of America will follow.

PA announcer: We are now introducing the skaters for group 6.  Skater No. 30, Mr. Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan. He won two consecutive Olympic titles. After vowing to continue competing in this season, he won GP Finland and Russia in succession but then got forced to sit out due to injury. This is the first time for him to compete after the injury and to skate in front of the Japanese fans in this season.

Kobayashi: Now, they are introducing the skaters one by one. You know this skater who won two consecutive Olympic titles and many World medals including two golds. It's Yuzuru Hanyu. (Listens to the PA announcer) That's right, this is the first time for him to skate in front of his Japanese fans. They have been waiting for this moment.

Okazaki: Yes.

PA announcer: Skater No. 31, Mr. Shoma Uno of Japan. He is the silver medalist from PyeongChang Olympics. At Japanese Nationals this season, he won three consecutive titles with a powerful performance despite the injury he suffered during a warm-up. At 4CC last month, he came back from 4th after the short and won the long-desired senior championships title.

Kobayashi: And Shoma Uno. He won three national titles in a row. (Listens to the PA announcer) The 21-year-old Japanese Shoma Uno says that he is taking a new approach and he wants to compete focusing on achieving a result this time.

PA announcer: Skater No. 32, Mr. Jason Brown of America. He is loved by the audience for his prowess to express the music delicately and for his cheerfulness. He is also known as a Japanophile. He moved to Canada this season and has been training under coach Brian Orser.

Kobayashi: Now, this is Jason Brown of America. (Listens to the PA announcer) He says that this season, he wants everyone to see new Jason, another side of him.

PA announcer: Skater No. 33, Mr. Mikhail Kolyada of Russia. He is the bronze medalist from GPF Nagoya last season and the bronze medalist from Worlds last year. This season, he finished 2nd in Russian Nationals and 5th in European Championships and is representing Russia at Worlds for 4 years in a row.

Kobayashi: Now, this is Mikhail Kolyada of Russia. (Listens to the PA announcer) He aggravated sinusitis going into Russian Nationals and got hospitalized, but forced himself to compete at Nationals and finished 2nd.

PA announcer: Skater No. 34, Keegan Messing of Canada. This season, he finished 2nd in GP Canada and got through to the Grand Prix Final for the first time in his career. His great-great-grandfather was the first Japanese who immigrated to Canada, so he has roots in Japan as well.

Kobayashi: (Listens to the PA announcer) This is Keegan Messing of Canada. The great-great-grandfather (t/n: mentioned in the introduction) is Mr. Manzo Nagano.

PA announcer: Skater No. 35, Nathan Chen of America. He is the defending World champion.  At the Olympics, he fell behind in the short program but moved up from 17th to 5th place with an outstanding performance in the free skating. This season, he entered the prestigious Yale University and won two-consecutive GPF titles while trying to balance study and training.

Kobayashi: And this is the defending champion, Nathan Chen.

(Nathan lands a 4Lz)

Okazaki: Oh, that was nice.

Kobayashi: Yes.

Okazaki: The jump looked very sharp.

Kobayashi: The defending champion Nathan Chen has 5 different types of quads in his arsenal. It is always interesting to see how he incorporates them in his programs.

Okazaki: Yes, it is.

Kobayashi: In this competition, he is planning to keep the jump layout with which he won U.S. Nationals. Well, he did so well at that competition, didn't he?

Okazaki: Yes, he did.

Kobayashi: Now the camera is focusing on Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan. This is his first competition in four months. But he has overcome this kind of situations.

Okazaki: Yes. He is a very tough athlete.

Kobayashi: Indeed. And here is Shoma Uno, who truly wants to challenge him this time. Mr. Okazaki, how do you see this warm-up?

Okazaki: Well, it seems everyone is moving very sharply... (Hanyu falls on Salchow) Oops, Hanyu kun fell a bit.

Kobayashi: Yes. He is the first skater of this group, but he says that he likes this skating order…

Okazaki: Yes.

Kobayashi: He has a good impression of it.

Okazaki: Well, it enables you to start performing without getting off the ice. (t/n: after warm-up)

Kobayashi: Right... Now, they are introducing the ISU President Mr. Jan Dijkema. ISU was established in 1892 in the Netherlands. Mr. Jan Dijkema is also from the Netherlands.

(The standings after group 5 is on the screen)

Kobayashi: Now we are showing the current standings. Vincent Zhou of America is currently in the 1st place, scored 94.17. Two skaters have surpassed 90 points so far, but no one surpassed 100 points. However, in group 6, there are skaters who will likely to surpass it.

Okazaki: Yes, there are.

(End of 6-minute warm-up)

Kobayashi: 6 minutes warm-up has ended. Finally, this moment has come.

[izcumteke-blog]

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