The best and worst from '09-10

After more than seven long months of thrills, spills and fierce competition, the figure skating season has finally come to a close. From Yu-Na Kim's stunning Olympic victory to Mirai Nagasu's breakthrough, to Domnina & Shabalin's controversial Original Dance, here are the best and worst from 2009-10.

(Left: One of my favorite pictures I took of Mirai Nagasu at the U.S. Championships. Nagasu was most definitely a highlight of the season).

Best Pairs Moments:
Gold-- After back-to-back bronze medals in 2002 and 2006, the Chinese team of Xue Shen & Hongbo Zhao finally captured Olympic gold in Vancouver with two stunning programs. Though their free skate wasn't entirely perfect, the duo capped off an illustrious career and will forever be remembered as one of the greatest teams of all time, alongside Russian legends Gordeeva & Grinkov and Rodnina & Zaitsev.

Silver-- Amanda Evora's heartfelt reaction upon learning she and partner Mark Ladwig had earned a spot on the U.S. Olympic team. The team had spent years hovering around the 4-6 range at Nationals but put it all on the line in Spokane. Perhaps even more impressive is the fact that they were able to gain confidence from their U.S. silver medal and earn top-1o finishes at both the Olympics and World Championships.

Bronze--The free skate of China's Qing Pang & Jian Tong at the Olympic Games in Vancouver. They bested Shen and Zhao in that segment with a world-record score of 141.81 points en route to the silver medal overall in their third Olympic appearance.

Worst Pairs Moments:
-- Keauna McLaughlin & Rockne Brubaker's short program at the U.S. Nationals in January. Two huge mistakes and other small errors took them completely out of contention for the Olympic team, and seeing Keauna cry backstage after was heartbreaking. Here's hoping they come back strong next season!

-- Yuko Kavaguti & Alexander Smirnov's odd long program to a remix of the "Blue Danube Waltz." The strange, gimmicky choreography and Yuko's mid-program costume transformation didn't help, either.

Best Men's Moments:
Gold-- Jeremy Abbott's flawless free skate at the U.S. Championships. In successfully defending his National title, Jeremy landed 8 perfect triple jumps and one gorgeous quad toe loop. He would go on to defeat (eventual) Olympic gold medalist Evan Lysacek by more than 25 points en route to a 9th place finish in Vancouver and a 5th place finish at the World Championships in Torino, Italy.

Silver-- Speaking of Evan Lysacek, his emotionally charged Olympic short program was definitely a highlight of the season. The 24-year old American would score a personal best 90.30 points for that segment before coming from behind to defeat defending Olympic champ Evgeni Plushenko of Russia. His victory in Vancouver marked the first time an American man had won Olympic gold since Brian Boitano in 1988.

Bronze-- Japanese star Daisuke Takahashi's comeback from a nearly career-ending injury is the stuff legends are made of. With each competition, he appeared to get stronger and stronger, and capped the season off with Olympic bronze and a World title, the first Japanese man to medal at the Games and win a World Championship. On top of that, his "La Strada" free skate is my favorite men's program of the season, so kudos to Dai.

Worst Men's Moments
-- Plushenko's incessant whining about how he deserved to win the Olympics over Lysacek simply because he landed a quadruple jump and Lysacek did not. News flash, Evgeni: it's not called "figure jumping." Quad or no quad, Evan was far better than you in terms of spins, footwork, choreography, transitions and the triple jumps. Your silver medal is a great achievement, so stop trying to rain on Evan's parade.

-- Elvis Stojko's rants about "manly skating" and "feminine skating." Like Plushenko, perhaps Elvis should brush up on the judging system rules before running his mouth.

-- Johnny Weir's scores at the Olympics. I don't know what the judges were watching, but Johnny was FAR better than Canadian Patrick Chan in Vancouver. The scores did not accurately reflect what happened on the ice, and Weir's near-flawless programs should have put him into 4th place overall, not 6th.

Best Ice Dance Moments
Gold-- The season that Meryl Davis & Charlie White had, winning another U.S. title and becoming the Grand Prix Final champs and World and Olympic silver medalists. They are arguably the most exciting ice dance duo in a long time, and this lift is simply outstanding.

Silver-- Hearing Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir (and all of Canada, really) singing "O, Canada" during the medal ceremony in Vancouver. While I'm not Canadian, it was an amazing, goosebump-inducing moment.

Bronze-- The free dance of Kimberly Navarro & Brent Bommentre to U2 and Mary J. Blige's version of "One." There aren't really words to describe this program, except that it incredibly moving to see live and in person at Nationals. This duo will certainly be missed.

Worst Ice Dance Moments
-- The Original Dance of Russian champs Oksana Domnina & Maxim Shabalin. What. Were. They. Thinking?!?! While their intentions were probably good, their "Australian Aboriginal" program came across as extremely offensive to many. Aside from that, the construction of the program was not Olympic-caliber, and Max's declining knee strength and skating skills didn't help either. And those costumes? Oy.

-- Tanith Belbin & Ben Agosto's scores at the Olympics. They skated three flawless programs yet still finished 4th behind Domnina/Shabalin. Like Weir's scores in the men's event, the marks for Belbin/Agosto had me scratching my head.

Best Ladies Moments
Gold-- Yu-Na Kim's Olympic gold medal winning free skate was an obvious choice. Never before had she performed such a perfect long program, and to save it for the biggest stage of all is quite remarkable. Along the way, she set another world-record score in the free skate of 150.06, and an overall record of 228.56, more than 23-points ahead of silver medalist Mao Asada of Japan. Whether she decides to continue competing or retire from amateur skating, Kim's legend in the skating world is secure.

Silver-- Mirai Nagasu's breakthrough was another highlight of the 09-10 season for me. After a terrible year in 08-09, Mirai came back in a big way with better jumps, a world-class coach and the joy she exuded when she first burst onto the scene in 2007. Her steady climb this season resulted in a silver medal finish at Nationals, a 4th place finish in her senior international championship debut at the Olympics, and a top-7 finish at Worlds. Her winning short program at the World Championships has set her up beautifully as a serious world contender over the next four years.

Bronze-- Joannie Rochette's heartfelt tribute to her late mother, Therese, at the Olympics in Vancouver. It still amazes me that she was able to compete only two days after her mother's passing, and to win an Olympic bronze medal with the stunning performances that she gave is truly awe-inspiring. Kudos to you, Joannie.

Worst Ladies Moments
-- Mao Asada's meltdown at the Rostelecom Cup in October was not a pretty sight. A 6th place finish in the relatively weak field there meant no Grand Prix Final trip for Asada. The only bright spot in all of this was that perhaps her poor performances motivated her for the rest of the season, as she went on to capture Olympic silver and another World title.

-- The entire ladies free skate event at the World Championships can be summed up in one word: "yikes." Falls, popped jumps, and double-footed landings plagued many of the Worlds best skaters last month in Torino. The fact that Yu-Na Kim was able to win silver despite three huge mistakes in her short program (an under rotated triple flip, a messy layback which ended up not counting, and a near-fall on her spiral sequence) and a fall in her free skate is quite telling. Aside from Nagasu's short program, this is was not a memorable event.

-- Carolina Kostner's Olympic-sized implosion in Vancouver is legendary--and not in a good way. It brought back memories of Laetitia Hubert's "human Zamboni" free skate from the 1992 Olympics where she fell four times. Carolina rebounded somewhat at Worlds with a 6th place finish, but 09-10 seems like a season she hopes to forget.

Lysacek perseveres for Olympic gold

Reigning World champion Evan Lysacek of the United States laid down a flawless free skate Thursday night to win Olympic gold and defeat defending champ Evgeni Plushenko of Russia by 1.86 points.

Lysacek hit 8 solid triple jumps, but it was his high-scoring spins and footwork that gave him the slight edge over Plushenko. The 27-year old Russian landed a quad toe-triple toe combination but struggled to save the landing of his triple Axel and triple Lutz jumps. His spins and footwork were slower and less impressive than Lysacek's, and his failure to do a three-jump combination might have cost him his second Olympic title.

With his victory, Lysacek, 24, becomes the 13th American to win figure skating gold, and the first since Sarah Hughes won in Salt Lake City in 2002. He is also the first reigning World champion since Scott Hamilton in 1984 to win at the Games, and the first U.S. man to win since Brian Boitano 22-years ago in Calgary.

Japan's comeback kid Daisuke Takahashi won the bronze with a wonderful free skate after missing all of last season due to knee surgery. American Johnny Weir nailed all of his jumps but wasn't able to pull up from 6th place overall. U.S. champion Jeremy Abbott rebounded nicely from a poor short program, nailing 6 solid triple jumps and climbing from 15th place to 9th overall.

Asada, Ando, Suzuki headline Japanese Olympic team

Mao Asada routed the ladies field at the Japanese Championships yesterday to clinch a spot on the Olympic team. Akiko Suzuki, also an Olympic newbie, and Miki Ando, who is making her second consecutive trip to the Games, join her.

Daisuke Takahashi continued his comeback season by winning the men's event, while Nobunari Oda and Takahiko Kozuka were second and third, respectively. All three will compete in Vancouver, as will the brother/sister ice dance team of Cathy and Chris Reed.

Asada's victory at Nationals helped turn around a sour season thus far. She was handily defeated by World champ Yu-Na Kim in Paris in October, and then fell to sixth at the Rostelecom Cup a week later. Though her triple Axel was downgraded in the short program this weekend, she hit a beautiful triple Axel/double toe loop combination in her free skate to take the title by more than 8 points overall. While her programs this season are still dreadful, Asada still has every ounce of talent it takes to be an Olympic champion.



Suzuki (shown above), only fourth after the short program, rallied to finish second in the free skate and overall. She landed seven solid triple jumps, with a minor, uncharacteristic trip being her only mistake. After battling back from anorexia at age 24, Suzuki appears to be the heavy emotional favorite heading into the Games. However, she is also shaping up to be a heavy medal contender, too. Already this season, Suzuki has defeated World silver medalist Joannie Rochette of Canada, the American trio of Rachael Flatt, Mirai Nagasu, and Ashley Wagner, and Italy's Carolina Kostner. With continued improvement, I have no doubt that Suzuki could be the darkhorse in Vancouver, with the potential to defeat teammates Asada and Ando, who have looked shaky at best so far this season. Ando, who clinched an Olympic spot by virtue of her silver-medal finish at the Grand Prix Final earlier this month, skated cautiously and conservatively here, finishing a distant fourth.

Perhaps the most unlucky skater once again is Yukari Nakano. Four years ago, she won bronze at the Grand Prix Final and defeated Ando at Nationals, yet she was still left off the team. Ando was sent to Torino where she finished 15th, while Nakano went to the World Championships a month later and was fifth. Even with a third place finish this year at Nationals, Nakano finds herself off the team once again because Ando was already guaranteed a spot as the highest Japanese GPF finisher. After being so successful in the 2.5 years following Torino, Nakano has been on somewhat of a downward slide since last year's Nationals, and her shaky performances on the Grand Prix series this year coupled with an underrotated triple Lutz in her long program yesterday means she'll be watching the action from home this February.

The Japanese ladies are arguably the deepest in the world, and any one of them could win an Olympic medal. The Olympic picture is rapidly developing with only 58 days until the ladies short program...

---------------
Japanese Nationals results:
1. Mao Asada (204.62)
2. Akiko Suzuki (195.90)
3. Yukari Nakano (195.73)
4. Miki Ando (185.44)
5. Kanako Murakami (176.61)
6. Haruka Imai (166.16)
7. Fumie Suguri (161.29)

Joubert first after exciting men's short program; Wagner wins round one in Nagano

Talk about two extremely different events.

Frenchman Brian Joubert rebounded from a disastrous outing in Paris three weeks ago to win the men's short program at the NHK Trophy in Nagano, Japan. His score of 85.35 is the top men's score this season, a score he achieved largely due to the strength of his quadruple toe-loop/triple toe-loop combination. He currently sits 2.35 points ahead of American Jeremy Abbott, who beat his personal best short program score by nearly five points. Abbott's innovative program to an electric guitar cover of the Beatles' "A Day in the Life" is absolutely amazing, and there is no way his Program Component Scores should have been third-best behind Joubert and Japan's Daisuke Takahashi, who had a rough landing on his solo triple Lutz and a hard fall in his circular footwork sequence.

Three-time U.S. champion Johnny Weir is third after the short, landing all four of his planned triple jumps and earning a new season's best score of 78.35. Takahashi, the 2007 World silver medalist is close behind with 78.18 points, while teammate Takahiko Kozuka, who won silver two weeks ago in Russia, is fifth with 74.05 points. American Adam Rippon - who turns 20 next week - took a spill on a triple Axel and is currently 8th, some 11.20 points out of medal contention.

With a combined seven World championship medals among them and numerous Grand Prix titles, the men's event seemed more like a final flight at the World championships than only the fourth event of the season. It was an entirely different story for the ladies, however.

American teen Ashley Wagner nabbed the top spot after the short program, defeating 2007 World champion and current World bronze medalist Miki Ando. While Wagner wasn't completely clean (her double Axel was severely underrotated), her skate was still enough to earn a season's best score and beat out Ando, who took a spill on her triple flip and quite possibly underrotated her triple Lutz also. Yukari Nakano is third after bailing out of her triple Lutz and not completing the combination. Reigning European champion Laura Lepisto of Finland is fourth, and Russia's Alena Leonova rounds out the top five with 52.34 points after falling on her triple Lutz (a fall that was timed perfectly to the music, though).

The event was so lackluster that not one of the ladies in the field even managed to break 30 points for her Technical Elements Score. I know the Olympics are still three months away, but it is already November and still not one skater from any country has proven that she is able to compete with Korea's Yu-Na Kim. I know injuries happen and "the ice is slippery," but it is nearly impossible to predict who will medal come February.

Japan's Akiko Suzuki won the Cup of China last week with two nearly perfect programs, but she has never even been to a World Championship before. Will she be able to handle the pressure of the Olympics if she makes the team? Mao Asada has had a horrific fall season, but will she be regrouped and ready by the time the Japanese Nationals come around at the end of December? Could she be left off the Olympic team if she continues to skate poorly?

The North American outlook isn't very clear, either. Canada's Joannie Rochette won a World silver medal last season, but her performances in China last week were far from world-class. Was it just jetlag or is she already feeling the pressure this season? If that's the case, how will she be able to handle the pressure of competing at home in Vancouver? The American ladies picture is still cloudy as ever, with Rachael Flatt, Mirai Nagasu, Caroline Zhang and Alissa Czisny all underperforming so far this season. Could Wagner be the strongest candidate for the team? And lets not even discuss the European ladies, none of which look remotely close to Olympic caliber yet, either.

There's so many questions yet to be answered. The rest of the Grand Prix season will be incredibly interesting, all leading up to what may be the most unpredictable Olympic Games ever. Stay tuned!

Plushenko's bid for second Olympic title begins in Moscow this weekend

After a three year hiatus from eligible competition, 2006 Olympic champion Evgeni Plushenko of Russia is back this season hoping for a repeat victory come February.

The three-time World champion Plushenko was nearly unbeatable during the 2002-2006 quadrennium, losing only twice (once to France's Brian Joubert and once to Emmanuel Sandhu of Canada). Unfortunately for him, the competition isn't as easy this time around.

Since his absence, numerous men have staked their claim in the figure skating world, and the field is so deep now, it's hard to predict exactly just where he fits in. The top two men at last year's Worlds -- American Evan Lysacek and Canadian Patrick Chan -- have proven that you don't need a quadruple jump to win big anymore. Instead of relying on that one jump, today's group of male skaters seem to be focusing on refining the "overall package:" clean and consistent triple/triple combinations, high level spins and footwork sequences, and more difficult transitions to boost their Program Component Scores (PCS). While Plushenko's success rate with the quad is certainly the highest of the men that will be competing in Vancouver, his spins and choreography leave much to be desired.

While he has the potential to outclass the field jump-wise, Plushenko must pay attention to the other aspects of his skating if he hopes to be victorious at the Games. Skating has evolved quite a bit even in the past three years, and he cannot rest on his laurels and hope to win on his skating skills alone. His PCS were astronomically high in Torino in 2006, but there won't be that big of a gap between him and his competitors this time around. Skaters like Lysacek, Chan, Johnny Weir, Daisuke Takahashi, Nobunari Oda and '06 Olympic runner-up Stephane Lambiel will provide some incredibly tough competition.

I've never been Plushenko's biggest fan, but I do respect him as an athlete and competitor. It will be very interesting to see what happens this weekend in Moscow when he competes at the Rostelecom Cup, where his only other threats seem to be Weir and Japanese skater Takahiko Kozuka. A win in this field is certainly attainable, but a second Olympic win this winter will prove to be much more elusive if he enters the Games with the same mindset and types of programs he did four years ago.

-------
In other Rostelecom Cup news, Miki Ando reportedly had a great practice today, while Mao Asada struggled on the triple Axel, only achieving about a 50 percent success rate. Whether it's fatigue (this is her third competition this month) or the pressure of the Olympic season catching up with her, it will be interesting to see if she can improve upon her performances last week at the Trophee Eric Bompard, where she was defeated by rival Yu-Na Kim by more than 36 points.