Crystal Skate

Tatiana Volosozhar/Maxim Trankov snatching both the European and World title right from underneath Aliona Savchenko/Robin Szolkowy's nose is the most exciting and disappointing thing of 2012/2013 as far as Pairs skating goes. How come the same event is both the worst and best thing we've seen this season? Well, it'a bit complicated... Aliona and Robin's choice of SP music this season -  Kismet by Bond - didn't really say a lot to the audience and that was reflected by the scores they got. The Germans used to have fun, energetic and original programs, so what on Earth was this one about? It doesn't matter how good you are technically, if the music isn't right, your program will not impress. Unfortunately this was the case here, and it really is a shame because once upon a time not so far away, you waited impatiently for their routine to start and you never got the feeling it's rusty on the edges. Their Flamenco   Bolero  by Gustavo  Montesano was a...

Carmen, Notre-Dame de Paris, The Rolling Stones   and Man with a Harmonica  are just a few of the stories we'll see today in the Ice Dance Final. With skaters such as Virtue/Moir or Bobrova/Soloviev being in top form, it's almost impossible to predict who will win which medal. Colourful costumes for Cathy Reed/Chris Reed . Not a bad program, but not impressive either. They get 75.99 points. Overall: 129.94 . Julia Zlobina/ Alexei Sitnikov 's music (compositions by Goran Bregovic) is not everyone's favourite piece of cake, but the couple from Azerbaijan sell it well. They mess up the twizzles, but that last lift must have been on the border of what's aloud in competitions. Their score: 83.64 . Overall: 141.44 . Beautiful program for Isabella Tobias/Deividas Stagniunas . They get the first part of the twizzles wrong, but otherwise show lots of potential, and get 84.52 points. Overall: 141.64 . Sara Hurtado/Adria Diaz are the first to show us perfect twi...

Yuna Kim is the only skater in recent years who's managed to come back on top of her game, but Carolina Kostner has been doing a smashing job these few seasons and she's not one to back down. On the other hand, Japan's rising star, Kanako Murakami, has everything she needs to be the next best thing, and something tells me we haven't seen the last of the new Russian faces. Alright then...get ready...set...GO! Sonia Lafuente delivers a pretty program, but doesn't impress overall. The skater from Spain gets 87.22 points. Overall: 139.66 . Jenna McCorkell 's clean skate needed more speed, more heart and more solid elements. Her score: 91.04 . Overall: 142.47 . Despite a promising start and great presentation skills, Alena Leonova loses focus in the middle of the program. Double-footed jumps and a fall amount to tears and 102.76 points. Overall: 159.06 . The future doesn't look dark at all for Elizaveta Tuktamysheva , as she delivers the best pe...

There is always drama in the Men's Final, but this year it seems to be more than ever and it doesn't even have to do with the winner. Who would've thought? Patrick Chan starts the competition with the highest SP score in history - the gold medal, it seems, has already been claimed. But will Denis Ten, who last year finished the World Championship on 7th place, manage to stand his ground in front of his huge success in the SP, or will the more experienced Daisuke Takahashi take the silver medal? Kevin Reynolds and Brian Joubert have not given up on a medal either. Misha Ge gets into character before even starting the program and wins the audience over in the process. Technically good, but artistically great, the skater from Uzbekistan gets 139.05 points. Overall: 207.50. Yuzuru Hanyu gives everything he's got in this LP and literally runs out of breath at the end, but it's worth it. He is absolutely brilliant, landing jump after jump after jump. Who cares a...

The first medals will be given in just a few hours time, but who will be on the podium is a tricky question to answer. Marissa Castelli/Simon Shnapir deliver a solid program, despite lack of synchronicity in the side-by-side spins. They get 108.32 points. Overall: 164.00 . It's a shame that Mari Vartmann/Aaron Van Cleave had so many mistakes (he missed the combination, she fell on the throw Triple Loop, the spins were dodgy, she fell after the last jump) because the program really seemed interesting to watch. The Germans' score: 85.76 . Overall: 133.12 . Nicole Della Monica/Mateo Guarisse's program was far from what music as expressive as "The Phantom of the Opera" deserves. Besides the poor presentation (the costumes didn't help either), the Italians missed the Triple Salchow, the Double Axel, the Double Salchow and were too far away from each other in the side-by-side spins. They got 88.21 points. Overall: 136.03 . Stacey Kemp/David K...

Beautiful ladies in elegant dresses dancing with gentlemen wearing military uniforms and dinner jackets...well, not quite. Waltz and Polka might be the compulsory rhythms of the season, but originality is the middle name of ice dance. So take everything you know about ballrooms and throw it out the ice rink, for the dancers' short program is about to start. Impressive costumes, but not much more for Federica Testa/Lukas Csolley from Slovakia. They get 44.73 points. As expressive as always, Charlene Guinard/Marco Fabbri deliver an enjoyable program. When it comes to costumes, the Italian couple pays attention to the smallest of details. Their score: 57.89 . S iobhan Heekin-Canedy/Dmitri Dun 's program is a bit dull, but not bad technically. They get 59.20 points. The first original approach of the day is Isabella Tobias/Deividas Stagniunas ' Oklahoma  program. The twizzles were messy and they were too far away from each other in the polka sequence. As...

Carolina Kostner seems to be the obvious answer to the question "Who will win this year's Worlds?", but if there's one thing that can be sure about figure skating is that there is no such thing as "will", there's only "is likely to". Will the Asians re-claim their gold medals? Can't wait to find out. Most comebacks are disappointing, but Yuna Kim is not known as "The Queen of Ice" for nothing. As gracious as ever, and solid in her technical elements, the Korean obtained 69.97 points. She finished on first place. Gracious, but not yet worthy of the gold medal, Gracie Gold manages to impress with an energetic program, but gets only 58.85 points. Elene Gedevanishvili is far from being the skater she was two seasons ago. She failed every single important technical element, which made her lose focus on the presentation. This was a disastrous program, dangerously close to making her lose the qualification for the Olymp...

The boys' SP started with a burning question - will Fernandez beat Chang? - and ended in an entirely different fashion. Here's what happened to some of the skaters: Zoltan Kelemen is suffering from a serious case of inconsistency. What can be quite an entertaining program when performed at its best was today peppered with mistakes. The Romanian got 58.24 points. The costume was not the only pretty thing about Viktor Romanenkov 's program. The Estonian astonished even himself when he landed all his jumps perfectly, but he's got a lot to learn about expressing "Tango Amore". His score: 65.33 . Justus Strid is not a name you want to forget. Although he's yet young and inexperienced,  his funny program showed lots of potential both technically and, especially, artistically. The skater from Denmark got a surprising score of 63.25 . Alexander Majorov knows how to choose his music (not his costumes though), but he didn't impress today. ...

The 2013 Figure Skating World Championships started with full speed today in London, Ontario, Canada. As usual, the first to perform on ice were the pairs. Here's how some of the most known skaters did: The age difference (aka experience ) was the only problem Cheng Peng/Hao Zhang had today. The former Olympic medalist and his new partner only got 58.52 points There were all kinds of wrong in Nicole Della Monica/Matteo Guarise's program today, from double-footed jumps to silly mistakes in the twist. The Italians' mistakes amounted to a SP score of 47.82 . The first pair to impress was Vanessa James/Morgan Cipres from France. With great energy and an almost flawless program, they got 60.98 points. Skating home put no pressure on Kirsten Moore-Towers/Dylan Moscovitch and if it did, the Canadians know how to work under pressure. They showed us great costumes, a fabulous presentation and a technically flawless program. Their side by side spins were out of ...

The 2013 Figure Skating World Championships has a trailer and it’s epic. The three minutes 35 seconds long video is basically an invitation to London, Ontario, Canada much more than it is an invitation to the World Championships. By showing breathtaking pictures of some of the city’s main tourist attractions, the Canadian Federation is promoting ‘fake London’, and by the looks of it, they’ve got a lot to be proud of. The pictures are alternated with worldwide-known figure skaters giving us facts, figures and welcome messages. Although some of those messages are a bit silly, like Scott Moir telling us with a tone of voice worthy of a Canadian JR Ewing that there’s “a whole lot of land” in London, Ontario, the bursting excitement you can see on their faces (especially Kaytlin Weaver’s) makes up for the over-cooked lines. Then with a smooth transition we get a sneak peek of what to expect from the competition itself: we see rising Italian stars Anna Cappellini and Luca Lanot...