Crystal Skate

Surely if there's one event here that the Canadians have in their back pockets, it's the pairs'. But that doesn't mean Meagan Duhamel/Eric Radford are the only ones worthy of the spotlight. Here's some thoughts on all of the performances. Kirsten Moore-Towers/Michael Marinaro 's new partnership is paying off. They have no mistake on a technical level. Artistically, I'm hard to please when it comes to Cell Block Tango , so my opinion is that she could be a bit sassier and the choreography could do with a bit more elements of the murder stories. Their score: 53.79 . A seriously twisted lift by Evgenia Tarasova Photograph: Jonathan Hayward/The Canadian Press It is still pretty obvious that Brittany Jones/Joshua Reagan  haven't been a pair for long, but there is definitely some chemistry here to improve on. However, they couldn't be more out of sync both on the side-by-side triple Toeloops and on the side-by-side spins. The music is the soundtrac

There are many skaters who could climb the men's podium at this year's Skate Canada. Unfortunately for the hosts, none of them are actually Canadian. Instead, we've got athletes from Europe and Asia ready to battle it out, metaphorically of course, for their first Grand Prix medals of the season. Let's see who gives it their best in the short programme. Although Liam Firus 's routine isn't exactly fascinating, it is a decent start to the competition. He can't control the landing of the triple Axel and falls, but the rest of the jumps are quite strong. His score: 64.94 . Andrei Rogozine  brings back a song we haven't heard in a while: Mozart's Lacrimosa , this time with lyrics. The Canadian interprets it with that dramatic fierceness you'd expect from a Canadian-trained Russian-born skater. He is here as Kevin Reynolds' substitution, but with a programme as good as this, he's already overcome that status. He gets 70.95  points. S

Skate Canada, held in the Orchard City, aka Kelowna, British Columbia, is going to be a treat this year because none of the former gold medalists are competing. Even more, except for Julia Lipnitskaia, all of them have either withdrawn or broken up. That means that winning is anyone's game. Vanessa James/Morgan Cipres, France's top pair Photograph: Atsushi Tomura/Getty Images Asia This might not be good news for the hosts, who are used to keep the men's gold in Canada thanks to Patrick Chan. With him "taking a break" and Kevin Reynolds having had to withdraw due to skates problems, it is likely that they won't even have a skater on the podium. But the Canadians are such fans of figure skating that I'm sure they won't let their disappointment shine through. Instead, you can bet they'll cheer their hats off for every and any of these four favourite contenders: Javier Fernandez, Takahiko Kozuka, Michal Brezina and Konstantin Menshov. Canada do

Elizaveta Tuktamysheva leads after the short programme, while Elena Radionova and Gracie Gold are on second and third place. Will the standings remain unchanged? In spite of this only being Brooklee Han 's second season on senior ice, her potential for greatness is, unlike her musical choice, no Secret . She is graceful and determined to show off her best abilities, and with these two qualities, she can do no wrong today. Her score: 102.99 . Overall: 150.37 . Han's good vibes are rubbing off on Mirai Nagasu . She makes no mistake whatsoever, which is a most-welcome change from her recent competitions. The only thing I would love to see more of is the background story of Madam Butterfly . She gets 108.52  points. Overall: 158.21 . Elena Radionova, a tough soul in a delicate body Photograph: Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images North America This is the first year Natalia Popova  is doing Samson and Delilah . Honestly, I am already getting tired of it. It looks as though she

The short programme of the pairs' event ended with Yuko Kavaguti/Alexander Smirnov in first place. Although no one doubts they'll still be there at the end of the free skate, the same cannot be said about Cheng Peng/Hao Zhang (second) and Haven Denney/Brandon Frazier (third). Let's see what happens: Unless you know Phantom of the Opera  very well, it's hard to tell that's what Miriam Ziegler/Severin Kiefer  are skating to until Gerard Butler starts singing. And that's my biggest problem with the Germans' routine. The mistakes, after all, can happen anytime, but the presentation is never bad accidentally. They should interact more with each other and dig dipper into the tragedy of the story. Their score: 90.56 . Overall: 135.83 . Annabelle Prolss/Ruben Blommaert  have the same problem as their countrymen. If it weren't for the elements they must do together, they wouldn't look like much of a couple. But they're young, so there's plenty of

Unexpected shifts of places are not uncommon in the men's competition, but they can still be shocking when they happen. So we're off with Machida, Abbott and Brown leading. Let's see how they, and other top contenders, do: It always baffles me that Russian young skaters, like Adian Pitkeev , choose extremely intense music to skate on instead of going for something that might be fun. The result is that they don't project towards the audience, but are rather closed on themselves, like they're focusing too hard to follow the choreography. Technically, he falls on the quad. His score: 135.94 . Overall: 212.07 . From left to right: Brown, Machida, Nguyen Photograph: Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images North America Denis Ten  has stepped into a new musical territory with songs from New Impossibilities,  a musical project filled with Arabian rhythms. I'm sure this program will be a masterpiece by the end of the season, but right now, it looks as if he's not p

The three most popular musical genres in figure skating are represented on the first podium of Skate America 2014: contemporary, classical and soundtrack. How appropriate! Here's some thoughts on the top performances: Maia & Alex Shibutani - picture perfect on rhythms of waltz Photograph: Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images North America Alexandra Stepanova/Ivan Bukin  deliver some very difficult lifts with plenty of position changes, while keeping their costumes and presentation simple. Sometimes I do wish their choreography expressed more of the story instead of being just arm waving. Not that we don't need that too. The music is Eleanor Rigby  by The Beatles. Their score: 87.50 . Overall: 143.87 . Waltz works best with the delicate, classy style of Maia Shibutani/Alex Shibutani . However, because there is no background story, merely dancing to Johann Strauss's strings, it doesn't come across as impressive as other routines. They get 96.13  points. Overall: 160.

There are 12 men competing at Skate America in the individual event. Three of them are looking to reinforce their worth, two hope they can redeem themselves and the rest are just here to gain some experience. Let's see how the best of them pull through: Artur Gachinski  still can't land his quads, which is just painful to watch because artistically, he's as good as ever. He's got Tatiana Tarasova on his side now so maybe she can fix him. His music is Cry Me a River  by Michael Buble. He gets 75.71  points. Nam Nguyen  seems to be having the time of his life here. His music choice, Sinnerman  by Nina Simone, is an incredibly tricky song to skate on because of the rapid changes in rhythm, but he never struggles with it. His ease reminds me of Patrick Chan in his earlier days. His score: 73.71 . Representing Russia's younger generation of skaters, Adian Pitkeev  skates on Rachmaninoff. He manages alright with only a minor mistake on his quad, but artistically I

The 35th edition of Skate America starts with variations on the ardent rhythms of paso doble. Though there's not enough competition here to keep you on the edge of your seat, it will still be interesting to see each couple's take on this fierce Spanish dance. Elisabeth Paradis/Francois-Xavier Ouellette  are first to go, with an obvious musical pair: paso doble and flamenco. His step sequence is a bit wobbly, but otherwise, this is a pretty good routine. Their score: 52.11 . Anastasia Cannuscio/Colin McManus  are a bit more aggressive in their interpretation and pull off some great twizzles, but you can still see they're beginners. They get 55.14  points. Don Quixote  by Madison Chock/Evan Bates Photograph: Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images North America Slovakia might have a bright future in ice dance with Federica Testa/Lucas Csolley . Their paso doble keeps to the handbook, proving that sometimes the best way to interpret Spanish music is to keep it simple and stra

Chicago is less than a week away from hosting the 2014 Skate America and so it is time for me to start blogging again. Skate America will open the Grand Prix Series and as such it is the first truly important competition of the season. 2014/2015 will undoubtedly be the season a new generation of champions emerges, as many Olympic and World title holders have withdrawn from competitive ice. However, with the standards of the sport getting higher each year, it's become a lot less easy to predict who will climb the steps of the podiums. But before we get to the medal predictions, there's one thing we've got to mention first. This season is the first time we are able to hear lyrics in all the events. To that, I can only say it is high time that the ISU allowed it. The words are making it less difficult for skaters to tell a story, especially those who don't have a partner to share the storytelling with. They also help the public understand a routine a lot better and thu