A FIRST FOR CHINA: The unprecedented boom in popularity of figure skating in the last decade is undoubtedly due to the success of Japanese, Korean and Chinese athletes in international competition. With packed arenas and passionate fans from Sendai to Seoul, it's easy to forget that all of his is a relatively new phenomenon. The 2015 World Figure Skating Championships actually marks the first time that China has EVER hosted the World Championships! The country joined the ISU in 1956 but it wasn't until the eighties when Canadian and American coaches helped develop the country's figure skating program and skaters started appearing in world competition. Yes, we've seen World Champions come out of the country (Lu Chen, Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao and Qing Pang and Jian Tong) but the fact remains that few major international competitions have been held in
the country that houses the Great Wall. Only once since the event's creation in 1999 have the Four Continents Championships been held in China (back in 2003) and the country has never hosted the World Junior Championships. When Germany lost its Grand Prix spot to China in 2003, the Cup Of China became one of six static Grand Prix events to be held annually in the country. However, the first international competition of note to be held in China was actually a competition held as part of the inaugural Junior Grand Prix circuit back in 1998. Held in Beijing from October 21 to 25, 1998, the Junior Grand Prix China event was the seventh stop on that year's series and proved to be an excellent opportunity for young Chinese skaters to shine at home. In the men's event, the Chinese men (Zhengxin Guo, Song Gao and Yu Wang) actually swept the podium and Xiaodan and Hao Zhang won the pairs event beating pairs from Russia, Canada and the U.S. Young Huan Wang earned the bronze medal in the ladies event and Chinese ice dancers even produced a strong showing. The teams of Rui Wang and Wei Zhang and Lian Qi and Hao Goa finished fourth and fifth, respectively. Chinese skaters made a strong argument from the very start that they could rub elbows with the world's best on home soil and come out victorious. Even some of the skating world's future major players would also participate in that 1998 competition. Future World Champions Qian Pang and Jian Tong, Stéphane Lambiel and Jeffrey Buttle all competed in that event, as did future World Medallist Massimo Scali and U.S. Medallist Matt Savoie. Given the fact that this was the first World Championships to be held in China after a relatively short history of holding international competitions in the country, from a historical context the medal wins of Chinese pairs Wenjing Sui and Cong Han and Qing Pang and Jian Tong in their home country at this event was all the more impressive. The performances themselves were nothing to sneeze at either. In the words of
Dick Button, "first rate, first rate."
O CANADA: Based on the fact that
Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford were undefeated all season, I think it's a safe bet to say that entering this competition they were the absolute favourites. Anyone with half a brain in their head knew that this was their competition to win or lose. They didn't phone it in though. They went out there and delivered programs of purpose and passion and skated like the World Champions they now are. Despite a bobble on the side-by-side spins and a hand down on a throw quad Salchow that was so big I thought it was going to go right out the rink, these were two performances that we will remember YEARS from now. Class acts all the way and just electric to watch! Their story is unconventional and full of perseverance, determination and anyone who skated lights out like they have all season not only deserves a gold medal but also a hell of a lot of respect. Did I tear up a little? Yeah I did.
GET INTO THE GROOVE: Fresh off her tumble down the stairs at the Brit Awards, Madonna (err... actually a damn good lookalike) was back in business in the kiss and cry with Georgian skater Elene Gedevanishvili, who ironically took a tumble of her own in her short program set to "Papa, Can You Hear Me?" from "Yentl". The lookalike might have actually been Elene's mother Maka, but my dark sense of humor can't help but wonder if the "pop goddess" might have relished in taking in a major international event where more people were falling than SHE was. Ashley, Gracie, Polina too. Elene Gedevanishvili, we love you. Vogue.
AGE IS JUST A NUMBER SWEETIE: If you read the figure skating message boards and social media, you know that there are more than a handful of skating "fans" who are more than happy to take it upon themselves to suggest skaters be sent out to pasture once 'they reach a certain age'. You know, to make room for the younger ones. I've personally never heard of a more illogical argument in my life. If you love skating, skate until your ninety five. Compete until you are ninety five. I've long argued this point and have got a few eye rolls along the way but you know what? Why should anyone give up something they love doing to appease an armchair critic? This year's World Championships sent a firm message that a skater's competitive career does NOT have to end in their early twenties. No less than FORTY of the competitors in Shanghai were twenty five years of age or older: Evan Bates, Chafik Besseghier, Alexei Bychenko, Anna Cappellini, Nicole Della Monica,
Meagan Duhamel, Marco Fabbri, Elene Gedevanishvili, Matteo Guarise, Charlène Guignard, Ondřej Hotárek,
Mitch Islam, Vanessa James, Yuko Kavaguti, Kiira Korpi, Takahiko Kozuka,
Chris Knierim, Juri Kurakin, Luca Lanotte, Peter Liebers, Valentina Marchei, Dylan Moscovitch, Qing Pang, Andrew Poje, Eric Radford, Cathy Reed, Chris Reed, Adam Rippon, Alexei Rogonov, Barbora Silná, Alexander Smirnov, Nikolaj Sørensen,
Jeremy Ten, Jian Tong, Alper Uçar, Aaron Van Claeve, Mari-Doris Vartmann, Sergei Voronov, Kaitlyn Weaver and Hao Zhang, Reading through that list of names, I guarantee you that you're going to find way more than one or two you love watching and would love to see compete at next year's Worlds, right? Seems to me it was sixty year old Annie Lennox who stole the show at the Grammy's. I thought so.
REWRITING THE UNWRITTEN SCRIPT: Although Italians Anna Cappellini and Luca Lanotte were the defending World Champions heading into this competition, they finished third at the only Grand Prix event they ultimately attended this fall behind France's Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron and Americans Maia and Alex Shibutani. They didn't compete at the Grand Prix Final and settled for silver, again behind the quickly dominant French team. With France's top entry, Weaver and Poje and Chock and Bates being all the rage this season with international judges, the Italians seemed all but written off the podium before they even skated. Usually when that happens to a team, the skating suffers as a result of that pressure. Then the unexpected happened for this team in the short dance. They skated like World Champions. Sure, they might have not have won but in their
Paso Doble the Italians skated like someone had lit a fire under them. They moved seamlessly, going from twizzles to their midline step sequence to their final element, the level four rotational lift, with control, power and a certain determination. The mere fact that the judges gave them the nod over the French, Russian and American teams who had bettered them earlier in the season in the short dance showed to me that their purposeful Paso didn't go unnoticed.
BRIAN'S BOYS: When I interviewed
1987 World Champion and two time Olympic Silver Medallist Brian Orser, he told me that his "favourite skaters of all time are Robin Cousins, Stephane Lambiel, Janet Lynn and Kurt Browning. BUT... today my favourite skaters are Yuzuru Hanyu, Javier Fernandez and Nam Nguyen." I don't think that Orser's impressive stable of elite men could have asked for any better showing at this event. Javier Fernandez, in winning Spain's first World title EVER, was resplendent. I didn't personally feel the judges got it right in the short program when they placed Hanyu over a flawless Fernandez, but I have to give them credit where it's due for making the right decision in the free skate, even if neither man was textbook perfect.
Equally as impressive in my opinion as the gold and silver medallists was Orser's third top male student Canadian Champion Nam Nguyen. I called it earlier this season that Nguyen would be right up there with them at the Worlds but faith in the talented sixteen year old seemed to wane a little after he placed eleventh at the
Four Continents Championships. Finishing fourth in the free skate ahead of U.S. Champion
Jason Brown and Russian Champion Maxim Kovtun with a score of 242.59, Nguyen moved up to an impressive fifth. Three skaters in the top five at Worlds? Orser isn't just doing something right... he's the coach to beat!
HISTORY FOR TUKTAMYSHEVA: Set to the strains of Maurice Ravel's "Bolero" made famous in skating circles by Olympic Gold Medallists
Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, Russia's Elizaveta Tuktamysheva made history in her short program by becoming the first woman in history to perform a four triple short program featuring a clean triple axel. She's been upping her technical game at every turn and her work with famed Russian coach Alexei Mishin unquestionably paid off in her gutsy gamble to include the jump in the short in the first place. The only woman to attempt the triple axel in this event, she became only the fifth ladies skater to perform a triple axel at the World Championships, the first being of course 1989 World Champion
Midori Ito of Japan. What does a triple axel look like in terms of a points advantage? Tuktamysheva lead after the short in Shanghai with a TES score of 44.09 to Elena Radionova, who did a triple lutz/triple toe, triple loop and double axel. The base value for the triple axel is 8.50 versus 3.63 for the double axel. Her positive GOE of 1.57 on the jump more than helped seal the deal... and that axel for the record was a BEAUTY! Her free skate wasn't perfect but it was absolutely deserving of the win in comparison to her competitors, I do have to say that I thought her PCS score of 65.99 was a little generous considering the movement in the program was more founded in flair than fine tuning. It was absolutely entertaining though and one has to remember that like Duhamel and Radford in the pairs event, this competition was hers to win or lose and she fought through that free skate just like they did to EARN the title. Not bad for a skater who was tenth at Russian Nationals last season, now is it? Her win was even more historically significant considering it was the first time a Russian ladies skater stood atop the world podium since Irina Slutskaya won in Moscow in 2005.
EXQUISITE CRAFTING: Norway's Anne Line Gjersem's short program to Celine Dion's "Fly", a piece of music first skated to by Olympic Silver Medallist Liz Manley and then popularized by Olympic Bronze Medallist Joannie Rochette, was just so gorgeous that I thought it warranted mention. I'd interviewed her twin sister and biggest competitor
Camilla back in September who told me of competing against her twin "Skating is a huge part of our lives. We also have our rivalries but in a good way. We have always pushed each other and it's been healthy for our development and progress." Anne Line may have ultimately ended the competition in seventeenth place, but this beautiful program was a hook, line and sinker to me in terms of hitting home the point that lyrical music has been introduced to ISU competition for a REASON.
AMURICA!: The U.S. figure skating team has plenty to be proud of. Their only medal was Chock and Bates' silver in the ice dance event - which I'll offer my opinion on later in the blog - but the team's overall showing was outstanding. In the men's event, Jason Brown delivered two outstanding performances to finish fourth overall and give the competition a much needed dose of big girl artistry. I couldn't have been more impressed with his performances! Adam Rippon, who dazzled at the U.S. Championships to earn his first ticket to Worlds since since 2012, also put out two fine skates to finish in eighth place overall. All three American ice dance teams placed in the top ten and pair
Alexa Scimeca and Chris Knierim finished an impressive seventh in the pairs event. All of this said, you want to know who really impressed me?
The American ladies. Both Gracie Gold and
Ashley Wagner had more than one error in their short programs but were kept in contention on the strength of their second marks. I didn't quite know what to expect from the U.S. ladies in the free skate but boy, did they not disappoint. Of the three, Wagner certainly delivered the more mature, engaging performance but Gold and Edmunds both looked focused and confident. They delivered technically superb programs with clean triple lutz/triple toe combinations that earned positive GOE's. Gold and Wagner actually finished 2-3 in the free skate ahead of the silver and bronze medallists from Japan and Russia, which nails home the point that the international judges DO in fact appreciate the quality and fight in their skating. The depth in U.S. ladies figure skating may be considerable but these two talented skaters absolutely still in their prime and the cream of the crop.
IMPRESSIVE WORLDS DEBUTS ALL AROUND: From American men's skater Joshua Farris rebounding in the free skate to Canadians
Alaine Chartrand, Seguin and Bilodeau and Ilyushechkina and Moscovitch to ladies skater Valentina Marchei who made the smooth transition to pairs skating with Ondřej Hotarek this season and so many more, the newbies at this year's made a very strong statement as well. No national bias I swear, but I thought the Canadian pairs a particular impression. Ilyushechkina and Moscovitch's lifts had me swooning. Alaine Chartrand's solid short program that included a double axel, triple lutz/triple toe combination (although the toe was called underrotated) and an easy looking triple loop couldn't have been a better birthday present for her. While experience pays off, sometimes sheer determination and skill speaks for itself too.
AND THE BEST MUSIC AWARD GOES TO...: Canada's Julianne Seguin and Charlie Bilodeau! From their short program that opened with the imagination capturing Appenzell yodel ""s'Rothe-Zäuerli" from the soundtrack of "The Grand Budapest Hotel" to their free skate set to a captivating arrangement of Peter Gabriel's music including "In Your Eyes" (which Canadian ice dancers Alexandra Paul and Mitch Islam also used beautifully this season), this young and promising team not only made an impressive top ten debut at Worlds but did it with music and programs that commanded attention.