Crystal Skate

The pairs' competition is bringing back on ice two accomplished skaters who decided to keep going after last season despite early reports claiming they wouldn't. Yes, I'm talking about two of China's greatest: Qing Pang & Tong Jian. But how will they fare against their younger country men and, especially, against the record-breaking Meagan Duhamel & Eric Radford? THE SHORT PROGRAMME Pang/Tong's tango routine Photograph: Chung Sung-Jun / Getty Images Asia Qing Pang/Jian Tong  decided to return to competition because the Worlds will be organised by their homeland this season. For the short, they prepared a selection of tangos which stands out by being romantic rather than passionate. They are dressed impeccably, as always, her in a fiery red dress and him in a dashing vest and tie ensemble. Technically though, he puts a hands down on the triple Toeloop and they can't keep their side-by-side spins in unison. Their score: 66.87 . Meagan Duhamel/E...

It's no secret that after scoring medals out of the blue both at the 2013 Worlds and the Olympics, Denis Ten has become one of the golden boys of figure skating. Still, he has yet to win a gold medal or even climb on the podium of the Four Continents Championships. This is his chance to do both things at the same time. THE SHORT PROGRAMME One of Joshua Farris' more peculiar spin positions Photograph: Chung Stung-Jun / Getty Images Asia I love Joshua Farris ' Give Me Love  routine, but an Ed Sheeran song is challenging to compete on. Because of the nature of the music, he has to work extra to make it look less like an exhibition and more like a serious programme. He does it though by acing every single element and going into some original spin positions, the likes of which you only see in the ladies' event. Great job! His score: 84.29 . Despite being fifth at Japan's Nationals, Takahito Mura  is his country's best chance at the gold in Seoul. He's...

The short dance of the ice dancers began as most figure skating competitions do, with a well-defined if predictable idea of who should end on which place. Weaver & Poje had come to Seoul to take the gold, after all, and they were unlikely to be satisfied with less. But something quite inexplicable made the judges put them on third place at the end of the event. Thus, the first stage of the competition ended, ironically so, in a predictably unpredictable result. Why predictably unpredictable? Because this has happened so many times this season, I've learnt to expect it. Let's see how the three best couples did: The Shibutani siblings dazzle with their waltz Photograph: Streeter Lecka / Getty Images North America There are apparently 25 pages of rules in the short dance guideline, but  Kaitlyn Weaver/Andrew Poje  looked like they knew every single one of them by heart. From where I stood, they did nothing wrong with the paso doble. The judges however were less enthu...

A royal cast of figure skaters is heading this week to Seoul, South Korea. For the first time ever, I'll take a look at the action and blog about all the events of the competition. Choosing South Korea as the host country of the Four Continents Championships (FCC) was most appropriate, given that Yuna Kim lives here. Now, I doubt that I have to explain to you who Yuna Kim is, but just in case some of you have just discovered your passion for this sport: she is widely regarded as the best figure skater of the decade. I believe that's a title she ought to share with skaters such as Mao Asada or Carolina Kostner, but the fact remains that through her achievements and mind-blowing talent, she has convinced South Korea to get as involved in this sport as possible. They have more skaters competing on the international scene than ever before and they are hosting spotlight events like the FCC because of her. Seoul, South Korea, home of Yuna Kim Photograph: www.hotelroomsearch.net...