Team USA picks its ladies

The results are in, and here's what I think:

Bradie Tennell: I'm all for new blood on Team USA. Bring it, gurl. I remember watching her skate at nationals a few years ago and thinking that she had that same powerful technical consistency that the Russian skaters had. She is technically flawless, which is impressive, but she's not really inspiring artistically. I do love her choice of programs though. Her short program music is Korean, a nod to the Olympic host country; and her long program is from Cinderella, a nod to the Olympic dream being a wish her heart makes. I'm eager to see how she stacks up in Pyongchang and at Worlds.

Mirai Nagasu: I am so happy for her. To make the Olympic team like this four years after she was passed over, and 8 years after she was last considered competitive, she has been through the wringer and deserves all the things. The redemption is so so sweet. I am pleased to see that she threw in the triple axel at Nationals. I think it was a technical risk she needed to take to show the judges and the Olympic selection committee that she has balls of steel. Because she always gets dinged on underrotations, and she is susceptible to pressure, I don't think she has much chance of medaling at the Olympics or Worlds, but dammit does she ever deserve to be at both of those competitions.

Karen Chen: I'm fine with her inclusion on the Olympic and World team, though I don't have much confidence in her ability to keep it together through two programs at either of those events. She hasn't performed well internationally, and I don't think she stands much of a chance of doing any better this year. Yet, I do think she can bank more points than Ashley Wagner at this point. What I love about her though, is that when she's on, she's on. And choreographing your own programs (and doing it well) is the mark of a true bad-ass.

Ashley Wagner: I think leaving her out was the right call, but I am sad about it. The judges, both domestically and internationally, don't seem to love her skating right now. I think they have been a little too harsh on her lately, and I don't fault her for getting "furious" about it all. I scoffed at her intentions after Sochi to return for another Olympics. I didn't think she was good enough. But I changed my mind, especially after her 2016 season when she earned the silver at Worlds. So I'm sad to see that all go by the wayside. But she has had an impressive career and in my mind has nothing to prove.

Starr Andrews: I have long been a fan of this skater as she has risen through the ranks. At this point, while she has the technical points and had two undeniably great skates at Nationals, she still skates like a junior skater. She has some developing to do, but I'm excited that she has been given a chance to grow her style on an international stage with a bid to Four Continents and the World Junior Championships. Go Starr!

One final thought: I think we build up the Olympics to be something bigger and more worthy than it really is. True figure skating glory doesn't come from a competition that is held once every four years.

Relive the Glory with Olympic Re-runs

The Olympic Channel is broadcasting every Olympic figure skating event from Salt Lake to Sochi starting today, and running through January 3.

They're calling it the Olympic Skating Spectacular, and it's more than 30. Hours. Of. Skating.

Here's a little primer, though I raise my eyebrow at NBC's classification of it as "classic" coverage. You'd have to go back to the real glory days (pre-1998 imho). 2002-present precludes the majority of the sport's greatest Olympians.

Let the Countdown Begin

Pyongcheng 2018 is on in just a matter of weeks. Olympic fever got me like...

...so I'm reviving the blog!

See an official Olympic countdown here.

Parlez-vous Olympics???

Happy Birthday Kurt Browning!

One of my favorite skaters turned the big 5-0 last week. The four-time World Champ is known as much for his technical prowess on the ice—he was the first to land a quad in competition, way back in 1988—as his impeccable style. One of the most talented "performers" ever to take the ice. Got to see him live once, that was a thrill.

#tbt that time I met #kurtbrowning and he signed my t-shirt! #figureskating #iwassuchadork

A photo posted by Jessica Marshall (@jess_on_ice) on Jun 22, 2016 at 8:01pm PDT

To honor his birthday, I'll treat you all to his famous 'Singin' in the Rain' routine:


Happy belated birthday!

RIP Anton Yelchin

I was saddened to hear of the untimely, freakish death of this young actor, known for his roles in the rebooted 'Star Trek' franchise, 'Alpha Dog' and 'Charlie Bartlett.'



I'm also sending my deepest condolences across the figure skating world to his parents, who were professional skaters in Russia prior to coming to the States to set up shop as a coach and choreographer.

Hanyu & Ten Had a Little Dustup, and I Think It's Ridiculous

I'm sorry, but why is this news? Probably because figure skating is suffering from a huge PR problem right now and folks think crafting salacious stories like these will boost ratings.

Forgive me but I'm going to roll my eyes.

The story goes, Yuzuru Hanyu was doing a run-through of his short program on an official practice, and Dennis Ten was doing a spin right where Hanyu's triple axel was planned. He was forced to divert during his program and ended up falling on the jump and pitching a fit. Dennis Ten allegedly just DGAF, and has been accused of ignoring his fellow skaters when they have the right-of-way. The article painted it as this huge battle between the skaters.

Puh-leeeeeeze. Yes, the skater who is doing his/her program has the right-of-way according to ice etiquette. But if that right of way is violated, don't be a prima donna. Seriously, it makes you look like an a--hole. You have a right to assertively say "excuse me," and a right to be internally frustrated, but seriously, get over it. And if you're on the other end of the equation, you don't own the ice. Watch out for other skaters, please, especially during the official practice at Worlds.

Either way, it's not a big deal. It's reality for skaters. It happens every day, on every ice session, in some way or another. I've written about ice etiquette before, and I'm sure I'll write about it again.

I overheard a coach talking to a student on the ice the other day who was frustrated that fellow skaters kept getting in her way during Moves in the Field patterns. The coach advised the student to start acting "politely arrogant," as a means of asserting her right to be on the ice and complete the patterns. I don't like the use of the word arrogant, I think it has too many negative connotations. But the coach's implication was spot-on. You paid your money to be out there on that ice, and you have to assert your right to be there regardless of level or age. That's just the way of things when competitive athletes share a training facility. But at the same time, don't take it as the right to be a dick.

Margot Robbie Cast in 'I, Tonya'

The headline says it all. The 'Suicide Squad' and 'The Wolf of Wall Street' hottie is signed on to play figure skating's perennial bad girl in an upcoming biopic.

Don't get too excited though, the project doesn't have a director yet.

Read more over at Digital Trends.

More Thoughts on Nationals...

My husband has made no secret of being un-fond of the sport of figure skating. He's of the mind that the judging system is inherently unfair and it screws hardworking skaters. I'm paraphrasing, but he said something like he would throttle any judge who would dare screw me. Needless to say, I'm a little worried about bringing him to competitions...

But he's not entirely wrong (well he's wrong about threatening physical harm of course). The judging system is flawed. And subjective. This year's national results are indicative of that I think, in a number of ways.

It seemed to me that presentation scores and GOEs were manipulated to achieve a certain result in the Men's and Ladies' events, more so in the ladies short and in the men's long. I already expressed my dissatisfaction with the ladies' short results, and I was happy to see the ladies' long program pan out in a more straightforward way. Polina's presentation and GOEs paled in comparison to Gracie's--sorry to those who were rooting for Polina, but it was the right call to put her second.

But the men's long program was frustrating. Nathan Chen's four quads were a spectacle indeed. He got what he deserved in technical marks. And I'll buy that his presentation skills were lackluster in comparison to skaters who placed above him, and I'd have bought a second place finish for him overall. He should have won the long though. The technical merit was too high for him to lose, but his presentation scores were ratcheted down so far that they ensured a third place finish.

Now to  Max Aaron. This guy should have been the winner. He did two quads, and his presentation, while not amazing, should have been enough for a second-place finish in the long, and a first-place finish overall. But his GOE's were unfairly middling at best.

Adam Rippon, the ultimate champion, on the other hand, should have been third. He skated well and had great presentation, but he didn't complete a quad. Yet his GOE's and presentation scores in my opinion were higher than they should have been. He scored less than a point higher than Max Aaron on the technical side. Max did TWO solid quads, one of which was a quad-triple combo. I just don't see objectively how that's possible. Meanwhile, he scored almost nine points more than Nathan Chen in the presentation department, and more than five over Aaron.

If score inflation was at work, I simply don't see the aim of launching Rippon to the top. Even with a great performance at Worlds on par with what he delivered at Naitonals, he's going to get BURIED! His quad lutz, for all the talk about it, is under-rotated, and ALWAYS gets a downgrade, whether he stays on his feet or not. Max Aaron and Nathan Chen have more chance of faring better against the Yuzuru Hanyus and Jin Boyangs of the world. Is there a movement to fight back against the quad? To show that a guy without a quad can still win? While that's noble and all, that's not the direction figure skating is going in...

All of that said of course, it is nice to see a guy who has been in the sport, fighting for so long, finally get a national title. And I did like his program, a lot.

This feeling of dissatisfaction with the outcome of this year's Nationals aligns with a recent column by Christine Brennan for USA Today about why figure skating isn't the ratings-getter it once was. She makes a few very fair points here, among them, the intricate scoring system that lets judges jack up GOEs and presentation scores while remaining anonymous.

And for more of my thoughts on Nationals, I weighed in on WAMCs daily call-in talk show.

The Gold Sisters Go for the Gold

I was disappointed that the mainstream broadcast of Nationals this year didn't do much on the Gold sisters. It was casually mentioned that Gracie's twin sister was competing a few times, but they were kind of trite throw-aways, ("they're BEST FRIENDS OMG") and they didn't show Carly skate at all. Carly is not even close to the talent of Gracie, and her performance would have been very pale in comparison. But they're twins! And they're both competing! I think that's pretty rad and wanted to know more about the experience other than hearing repeatedly that they're the best of friends.

The Today Show interviewed them though, and it's a cute video:

Some Thoughts on 2016 Nationals thus far...

I've been able to catch some Nationals livestreams on Icenetwork in the last few days, and I have to say I'm largely impressed with the skating at all levels.

A few thoughts on the ladies short program last night:

1. Gracie Gold was way over-scored. The scoring logic says that her grades of execution (GOE) on the technical elements she completed were high enough to justify her second placement, but I think that's a boost she didn't deserve based on her actual performance. She does have great presentation, I will give her that, but she got zero credit for an entire element (the popped lutz), and her combination was only a triple-double, and a shaky one at best. If you look at the detailed scores, Ashley Wagner actually scored higher on both technical and presentation marks, but not by much, and the 1.00 deduction for Ashley's fall on the triple-triple was enough to keep Gracie ahead. Ashley should have been given higher GOEs, and should have been ahead - the way I saw it playing out, Gracie was 4th or 5th in the short, Ashley was 3rd.

2. I still do not like Polina Edmunds' skating. She's still amateurish and gawky on the ice. Her extensions are terrible - please girl, for the love of Mike, STRAIGHTEN YOUR LEG. The judges do reflect that in her presentation scores (she was well below Gracie and Ashley on that) but she did have the technical merit last night so I will give her that. But if Polina is the best the US has to offer in world competition, then we don't stand much chance of holding up against international skaters with far more polish and technical consistency.

3. There was a lot of falling last night. I chalk that up to the system encouraging skaters to try elements that are too difficult for them.

4. I was super impressed with the spin quality. Skaters are paying more attention to spins these days because the system rewards them for it. If you compare spinning now to spinning even 10 years ago, it's remarkable how much the quality and difficulty has improved.

A few thoughts on other events:

1. The quality of skating at the Novice and Junior level was higher than I remember seeing it in prior years. There are some good skaters making their way up the ranks, and I think we have something to look forward to in future years. I was particularly impressed with the winners of the Novice Ladies and the Junior Men.

2. Pairs - Between Tarah Kayne & Danny O'Shea and Knierem and Scimeca, is the US finally gonna have a really competitive pairs team??? I hope so. The last time we had a world champion pairs team, I wasn't even born yet.

Must Try Ice Skating Trail

Was shuffling through my FB feed and saw this awesome video about a wilderness skating trail in Canada. If I ever get some time to vacation in the future, this may be on my list of destinations.



I've spent most of my skating life on a regulation-sized and -shaped rink. Wollman Rink was about as exotic as I've ever gotten. Except maybe one time, when I participated in a photo project by my pal David Charles. We cruised down to the Ashokan Reservoir for a wintery photo shoot. Though not a destination for skating, I took my skates along, just in case, thinking maybe I'd just sling them over my shoulder as a prop. Turns out it was cold enough that some of the trail froze, and I was able to glide over small patches. The photo took care of the rest. (Don't worry, I was wearing my old skates.)

David Charles Photography

Celebrate Good Times of 2015

As the year nears an end, Team USA has a great slideshow of celebratory moments from elite American athletes in competition. Love that they included figure skating!

Happiest of holidays to all, and may 2016 (an Olympic year!!!) bring more epic shots like these.

New Hall-of-Famers

The latest class of champion figure skaters is being inducted into the Hall of Fame in Colorado.

Here's the impressive list of inductees:

• 2010 Olympic Champ Evan Lysacek
• 2006 Olympic Silver Medalist Sasha Cohen
• 2006 Olympic Silver Medalists Tanith Belbin & Ben Agosto
• Legendary Coach Gustave Lussi

It's a great class.

P.S. How is it that Gustave Lussi isn't already in the Hall of Fame? He's a legend!

A Little Helping Hand for Nationals

Remember that little skater who rocked the ice with her 'Whip My Hair' routine a few years back? She's even better now, and she qualified for Nationals!

I've been following her skating career via YouTube and IceNetwork - I like watching her performances because her skating is edgier than your average Novice Lady. Her personality shines through in her skating, and I think it sets her apart from a lot of the automatons I see in the mid-levels these days.

She recently won silver at Pacific Coast Sectionals, which means she earned a spot at Nationals next month. Her family set up a gofundme to help defray some of the expenses.

Skating is an expensive sport, and I'm sure everyone doing it could use a little financial help. I certainly can't give to everyone (gotta support my own skating addiction too, ya know). And I've written before about the reservations I have about crowd-funding figure skating careers. I still think it's a slippery slope.

But this time I can't help it. I pledged a small amount. Maybe it's because I identified with her last year when she just missed Nationals by one spot (me too, I know exactly what that feels like!!!). Maybe I'm hoping the good karma will give me a little boost this upcoming Adult season. And maybe it just makes me feel good to help someone, even in a small way.

Wishing her the best at Nationals! Here's her awesome short program from sectionals:

How many teddy bears can fill an ice rink?

The answer is 28,815. That's almost 30,000 glorious balls of plush bouncing and flouncing on the ice.

Well, at least that's the most that have I've ever seen thrown in a rink. And by the looks of it, it appears that there is room for plenty more in Calgary after the Calgary Hitmen Hockey Club's annual Teddy Bear Toss. Here's the video, worth a watch:



Having been a sweeper once for a competition, I would be a little overwhelmed by this volume of teddy bears. But with the help of hundreds of volunteers and a few trucks, it seems manageable.

I love the idea of the charity here. I know a lot of elite-level figure skaters donate their tossies to charities. Though as many of you know, the tossies I got last year included nips of alcohol, which I very ungenerously did not donate...

An Axel at 80

If I make it to 80, I better still be able to do an axel.

Richard Dwyer, who turned 80 recently, can. His 65-year career in professional figure skating made the Guinness Book of World Records.

Happy 80th Birthday to Richard Dwyer!FYI I took this video less than 3 weeks ago :-)#foreveryoung
Posted by Florentine Houdiniere on Thursday, November 19, 2015

Outdoor Skating Can Be Awesome

A Canadian figure skater—three-time Canadian bronze medalist Elizabeth Putnam—skated on a pristine frozen lake in the mountains of British Columbia, and some dudes filmed her from a helicopter. The resulting footage is amazing!

Remainder of Trophee Bompard Cancelled

The second half of the competition, which was to take place on Saturday, was cancelled following the attacks in Paris Friday. Icenetwork has a nice piece on how it affected the skaters.

This is not the first time a major skating event has been cancelled following a tragic circumstance, and it probably will not be the last. In the skating world, we tend to forget the larger world outside of us - for many of us, that's why we skate in the first place, because it gives us an outlet to escape. And when the real world interferes with the skating world, it's all the more jarring. 

What is interesting is how the ISU will deal with the results of the competition. Will it be counted toward the Grand Prix final? Is it fair to count only short program scores? We shall see. 

Boitano, Yamaguchi, Eldredge and Other Famous Champions Go Undercover

My favorite skaters in the world went incognito to Bryant Park and pretended to be beginners learning to skate. Then they broke character and surprised the heck out of the people they were skating with and it all aired on Good Morning America. What I wouldn't have given to be there!

A Bit of Levity

After the sad news of Debi Thomas' circumstances, I feel the figure skating world (at least MY figure skating world) could use a bit of a laugh.

The first bit is presented without comment:

The second bit, well that speaks for itself too: