What about Vanessa Crone?

The avid ice-dance followers probably remember Vanessa Crone very well.
When it was known that her partnership with Paul Poirier was over many fans were stunned and shocked. Shortly after that news was known, Poirier announced his new partner: Piper Gilles.
But Vanessa had to wait for over a year until she found danish ice dancer Nikolaj Sorensen. Sadly, that partnership didn't really last cause a few weeks later it was dissolved.
So, Paul is going on with his partnership with Piper but what about Vanessa?
Well, Vanessa hasn't found a new partner but she won't drop competitive figure skating. In fact, on 30/07/2012, she announced on her facebook page that she will compete in ladies singles.

Competing by herself isn't a new experiencce for Vanessa cause she took part of the canadian championships in singles back in 2007/2008 (junior level). The future will tell how well Vanessa will do.

I wish her lots of luck for the future and I hope she achieves success.

Crone & Poirier @ GPF 2010/2011

Gilles & Poirier @ Canadian Nationals 2011/2012

Link to Vanessa's statement: http://www.facebook.com/cronevanessa/posts/256481291130407

Update: I've checked that the note first published on facebook has been removed. (31-07-2012)

The Olympic fever

As everybody knows the London OG are taking place at the moment. All this olympic europhia reminded me of the winter OG and some of the magnificent figure skating programs of the past.
It's time to remember great performances that happened in the OG.
Here's a list of 10 olympic performances that in my opinion were remarkable:

 Alexei Yagudin - Salt Lake City - 2002

His LP was so amazing that the judges rewarded him with the highest score ever for a single skater in the history of the winter OG. Yagudin won the gold medal in a categorical way!

Tara Lipinski - Nagano - 1998

The youngest olympic champion ever. Lipinski won the gold in Nagano creating a major upset cause she relegated Michelle Kwan (the favorite) to second place. This performance is so inspiring cause it looks like Tara was having the time of her life!

Klimova & Ponomarenko - Albertville - 1992

This russian pair had already got a bronze in 1984 and a silver in 1988. The Albertville OG were their crowning moment. In my opinion this FD in one of the most beautiful performances ever in ice-dance.

Kim Yuna - Vancouver - 2010

Simply spectacular. The korean phenom dominated the ladies event in Vancouver.

Virtue & Moir - Vancouver - 2010

This FD isn't just about sport but also about art.

Mishkutenok & Dmitriev - Lillehammer - 1994

Unforgettable russian pair skaters. This was quite a FP but in the judges opinion it was only good enough for silver. I humbly disagree.

Berezhnaya & Sikharulidze - Salt Lake City - 2002

This isn't just the greatest SP of their career. It's one of the best SP ever in pairs skating!

Torvill & Dean - Sarajevo - 1984

Innovative. Creative. Perfect. Torvill & Dean at their best.

Katarina Witt - Calgary - 1988

The art of command by Katarina Witt. So much charisma! This was her second gold medal in the winter olympics.

Ilia Kulik - Nagano - 1998

Such effortless jumps that we can all forgive him the yellow shirt :p

News - Brian Joubert

Famous french figure skater Brian Joubert has finished his vacation and is back on work.
Joubert has confirmed that he will keep last season's short program and in the long program he will skate to music from the soundtrack of the film "Inception".
Annick Dumont will work on part-time mode with Joubert since he will spend some time in Paris in his preparation for the 2012/2013 season. Joubert will also work with Patrick Gueppe in Tours.

Here's a link to a french article on this subject: http://www.lanouvellerepublique.fr/Toute-zone/Sport/Sports-de-glisse/Patinage/n/Contenus/Articles/2012/07/07/L-ETE-STUDIEUX-DE-JOUBERT

News - Bobrova & Soloviev

As already posted here, Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitri Soloviev are now working with Alexander Zhulin. Their main goal at the moment is to correct some technical aspects of their skating, including Ekaterina's posture.
The programs for the upcoming season haven't been officially announced yet. Nevertheless, an youtube user was kind enough to share a video of Bobrova and Soloviev working in their new Short Dance (SD) during a public practice session. Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVBXbsaJ6Os&feature=youtu.be

As a side note, let me tell that the Yankee Polka is the short dance theme for next season's short dance.

In my opinion, Bobrova & Soloviev look promising. Her posture seems better and that's already a sign that they have been working hard to improve. Off course that the video linked above is not enough to be perfectly aware of how the SD will look like in the end. Still, the music was ok and it seemed to have a pleasant choreography.

Can't wait to see that program in competition!

What's going on in the off season

As some of you may already know there has been some interesting news in the world of figure skating during the off season.

The biggest shocker happened when it was announced that Igor Shpilband had been fired from his position in the "Arctic Edge Arena". That was really surprising considering his success in coaching the Canton ice dance teams in partnership with Marina Zoueva.
Virtue & Moir, Davis & White and the Shibutanis decided to stay in Canton with Marina Zoueva.
Chock & Bates, Tobias & Stagniunas followed Igor Shpilband to his new base at the Novi Ice Arena.
In the end of the past season, Riazanova & Tkachenko and Cappellini & Lanotte talked about moving to Canton during the off season in order to work with Shpilband and Zoueva having in mind improving technical elements and choreography advice. With Shpilband being fired, the situation of these two teams was a little undefinied. Recently it has been said that Riazanova & Tkachenko and Cappellini & Lanotte opted for Shpilband.

But there were some changes in russian ice-dance as well. Ekaterina Bobrova & Dmitri Soloviev left their long time coach Elena Kustarova. Alexander Zhulin is their new coach.
The young team of Ekaterina Pushkash and Jonathan Guerreiro has joined Nikolai Morozov's group having left Natalia Linichuk and Gennadi Karponosov.

There were also some interesting news in the mens discipline.
Since April 2012 that Patrick Chan is no longer coached by Christy Krall.
And quite possibly the weirdest of all the off season news: Daisuke Takahashi will work with Nokolai Morozov again! I don't think anyone could had predicted that especcially because their partying in 2008 didn't looked as totally peaceful. Takahashi will still work with Utako Nagamitsu as well.
The young japanese sensation Yuzuru Hanyu moved to Brian Orser.

What about the ladies?
The current olympic champion Kim Yuna has announced her return to competition. Kim said she will try to carry on competing until the Winter Olympic Games that will take place in Sochi in 2014.
Double world champion Miki Ando has also announced her comeback. Nevertheless, it has been officcially confirmed that Ando will no longer work with Nikolai Morozov. As far as I know, Stephane Lambiel has been working with Ando as a choreographer.

Keep checking for more posts :)

Welcome to my blog :)

Hello fellow figure skating fans from around the world. :)

The combination of athletic skills with artistic flair got me fascinated with figure skating from the first moment I had the chance to watch this sport.
In early 2012, I started my first blog about figure skating with the posts being written in portuguese. There's not a lot of figure skating info available in portuguese so I wanted to share as much as I could in that language. That blog is named Magia Gelada and here is the link: http://magiageladapatinagememportugues.blogspot.pt/

Eventhough my main objective was to post info in portuguese, I started to get some feedback from non portuguese speakers. That said I got incentivated to start posting in english.

So, I've decided to keep Magia Gelada as my main blog and to create this one as it's twin posting in english instead. That said, please have in mind that english isn't my 1st language.

Feel free to comment as you wish.

Thanks,
Magia Gelada