Synchro Nationals Kick Off In Providence

The country's best synchro teams take the ice at the 2015 U.S. Synchronized Skating Championships today.

It's going to be a fabulous display of twizzles, brackets, kicklines, pass-throughs, traveling spokes and rotating blocks. I can't wait to watch! It won't be on TV though. You can only watch as a subscriber to Icenetwork.com.

My old team, Gotham City Synchro, is competing in the Masters event. So excited for them (and a little sad I can't be there skating with them)!

Usually the Haydenettes win the senior event, and I have no reason to doubt that they will again. Synchro is a very dynamic, exciting sport to watch, but there doesn't tend to be a lot of variation in the results over the years. Much like a baseball or basketball franchise, the team is only as good as its resources. And synchro is an expensive sport...

Wednesday Recap

It's getting real people. The Colonial Adult Winter Challenge is just a week and a half away, and Easterns is in two and a half weeks. I just got the schedule for Easterns and bought my practice ice. No turning back now!

The last three weeks of practices have been of mixed success. My life outside of skating has been stressful between work and trying not to feel guilty about barely having time to spend with my child, and it has left me tired during practices. When I get tired, I bend at the waist and my programs have been horror shows. Not exactly a confidence-booster. Yesterday's practice was encouraging though, far from perfect, but enough to at least not send me running for the hills.

I finally found a competition dress to wear, which is a huge weight off my shoulders. Not having had to pick out my own outfit, well, ever, I didn't even know where to start. I ordered a couple of separates from Northern Ice & Dance (a fantastic selection, and they're so nice to work with!), thinking I could combine them to form the piece to match this crazy idea I had in my head and my flamenco-themed music. Yeah, that was a dumb idea. It just didn't work out like I envisioned. My mother, knowing this would be the outcome, smartly dug out one of my old dresses that I wore maybe once. I'd forgotten about it, but it turned out to fit perfectly in every way. So that's taken care of.

Here's a snapshot of the dress my mother texted me when I was having a breakdown over the possibility of not having anything to wear for the competition. Haven't had time to take a picture of it on, but maybe I'll model it for #FashionFriday.

Ice Dancing Goes Hollywood in Man Seeking Woman on FXX

Actor Jay Baruchel tries out "ice dancing" in an upcoming episode of his new show. Here's a preview of the action (note, there are adult references so might want to keep those headphones on or cover the kiddies' ears).



Okay so it's ridiculously inaccurate (ice dancing is actually pairs skating), but I think that makes it funny. And I learned a few things. Like the judges will probably frown upon me texting while skating.

Baruchel was the comic genius behind the very underrated hockey movie, 'Goon' (if I liked a movie about hockey, it's a good movie), and he now stars in this Canadian comedy series on FXX about a hapless, overgrown child looking for love.

Stolbova & Klimov Pull Out of Worlds

The Russian pair, who are the reigning World and Olympic Silver medalists, announced their decision today, saying they're focusing on next season's competitions.

Whaaa? Why the heck would they do that?

They are coming off a decent season, and had a great shot at the podium, I thought. They don't have a throw quad and probably no chance of beating their compatriots Yuko Kavaguti and Alexander Smirnov.

Doesn't seem like they're injured. And it's only extra month of training. Will it really make the difference? Maybe...

But it smells like fear to me.

I hope they can rally for next year, they're solid skaters.

Red Carpet on Ice

Predictably, one of my favorite parts of the Oscars is looking at all the gowns and jewels and glitz and glamour.

It's also one of my favorite parts of watching figure skating. The costumes, the fanfare, oh my!

Here's my favorite dress from last night, a Thakoon, worn by actress Anna Kendrick:

I love everything about this dress, from the elegant neck to the drape of the top. The coral color would look great on ice (even better than on a red carpet)!

How could you turn this into a competition dress? Clip the skirt around the knee and you've got a dance piece, Clip it even higher around the mid-thigh, and you've got a classy outfit for your long program. The only thing you'd have to be sure of is the security of the bust. Maybe some tape is in order?

It's reminiscent of one of Meryl White's dresses in Sochi, perhaps that's why I was drawn to it?

Need More Hours in the Day...

As you may be able to tell by the sad lack of posting, I've been busy. With just under a month left before Easterns (and less left until the Colonial Adult Winter Challenge I impulsively signed up for), things are heating up and I may be going nuts.

In lieu of what I would have been posting, here's a short list of things I found interesting in the last week or so.

Figure skating coaches are becoming the secret weapon for pro hockey teams. Figure skating technique makes one a better hockey player, apparently. Can I say 'I told ya so?'

Four Continents Championships were...interesting. Didn't see Paulina's win, nor Gracie Gold's epic fail, coming. With the exception of Paulina, it was a pretty disappointing show for Team USA.

This week in February is typically when the Winter Olympics are held during Olympic years, so it's always a time to look back at some amazing triumph. The 1980 US Men's hockey team beat the Russians 35 years ago this week in Lake Placid. The team members are meeting up there for a reunion. Brian Boitano won gold 27 years ago. Meryl and Charlie won one year ago. I'm sensing the need to hit YouTube and watch some of the greatest hits....

Jason Brown Tried a Quad!

Sadly, it wasn't a very good attempt. He's in ninth after the short at Four Continents.


Josh Farris is 5th after skating clean sans quad. But Dennis Ten and the rest of the top skaters all have quads, so it's not looking good for the home team in the men's event. Well, they're not really the "home" team since it's in Seoul...but there's little hope in my mind for any American men to medal here.

Four Continents Preview

The Four Continents Championships are the rest of the world's answer to the exclusive European Championships. It starts tomorrow in Seoul, South Korea.

Which basically boils down this year to the US and Canada vs Japan.

Ashley Wagner is not competing, nor is Yuzuru Hanyu. But all the other big names like Gracie Gold, Jason Brown and Madison Chock/Evan Bates will be competing. Should be a good show!

Volosozhar & Trankov Are Engaged

Come on, you saw that coming, right? The reigning Olympic pairs champs have been denying the rumors that they were together for years, but as so often happens with folks who spend a lot of intense (read: training) time together, sparks are almost inevitable.

And even if it's just for publicity's sake, I hope they're happy together. And I can't wait to see them back on the ice competing after Trankov's shoulder heals.

Synchro Is Not For the Faint of Heart

With the National Synchro Championships coming up at the end of this month (starting Feb 25 in Providence), and the World Synchro Championships in Ontario just two months away, the ISU has released a timely video trying to psych the world up about the sport.

This video is awesome. The first part makes it look like a horror film trailer, but it really does strike a chord about how great synchro is. Enjoy!


#synchroin2018

Europeans Recap

Europeans just wasn't all that exciting this year.

Why?

The top scorers in all disciplines won by a landslide. There was little to no challenge. Aside from the top skaters (mostly from Russia), Europe is turning out pretty mediocre skaters these days.

About Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, She's winning, and I think that's great. But she could be winning by more. Why doesn't she have the 3axel in her program? And why is she not doing 3lutz 3toe? It's costing her the short program every time to do the 3toe-3toe. Her jumps are enormous and technically perfect, so why is she reserved? If it's a mental thing, ok I  guess. I mean, if you're winning the long without it, why bother. But I'd like to see more from her.

Elena Radionova needs to work on her leg extensions, stop flinging her arms about and she needs to relax her shoulders. Other than that, she's perfect. K?

There are no other European women who come close (including Russian Anna Pogorilaya, whose skating just does not impress me, at all). They're all sub par. The Russians face the greatest challenge from Japan and the US, though it's not looking like much of a challenge.

For the men, Javier Fernandez is the only one with talent. All the other skaters look like cavemen out there on the ice. This is a great reminder of how all-around talented the American men are, with their high presentation marks.

I'm a big fan of Yuko Kavaguti and Alexander Smirnov, They've fought long and hard for a shot at glory, and I hope they continue to dominate the pairs competition.

Still have no clue about dance. The Italians and the French seem to be the biggest competitors for the US teams.

Next up, we'll see everyone who isn't from Europe face off at the Four Continents Championships later this month.