Crystal Skate

The most exciting news about Rostelecom Cup 2015 is that Adelina Sotnikova returns to competition. The Olympic champion suffered from a nasty ankle injury last season which forced her to take the entire year off. Now that she's back, there are a lot of questions on everyone's mind. The most important is: how will she fare against Russia's fresh new stars? The first to skate is Hannah Miller from the US. Absolutely gorgeous purple costume covered in Arabic embellishments, as befitting Arabesque . She double-foots the triple Flip and steps out of the double Axel. Her score: 47.98 . Dasa Grm  is the first skater to perform on music by Hugh Laurie (Dr. House), as far as I know. She's also wearing an unusually long dress for the ladies' discipline, which makes her stand out fashion-wise. She's very nervous at the start, and singles the triple Lutz. All in all, I see potential. She gets 44.72  points. Riona Kato  is also very nervous because this is her first G...

Russia has always brought great, sometimes outstanding, figure skating on the ice. It's no wonder then that every time the sport returns to Moscow, it feels as if it's returning to its roots. Lately, Russian figure skating has been all about young people doing extraordinary things. We're going to get a chance to see some of them this weekend. Let's start with the ladies. The biggest event of the competition is the comeback of Adelina Sotnikova. She's got a lot to prove in the eyes of many, as this is her first competition after the Olympic controversy. Personally, I just can't wait to see her back on the ice and I hope she can face the pressure with the same strength of character she's always had. She'll be competing against Elena Radionova, the happy, chirpy teenager who's also famous for knowing how to keep her cool in tough situations. The Olympic champion's second rival is Evgenia Medvedeva, who won Skate America, thus raising the number of...

Adelina Sotnikova is so very close to achieving her dream and winning the European title that slipped out of her fingers last year. But with Julia Lipnitskaia and Carolina Kostner breathing down her neck, the task is not easy at all. Natalie Weinzierl 's Rhapsody in Blue sounds grand and looks fabulous, but looks can be deceiving. She had a hand down on the Triple Lutz, stepped out of the Triple Loop, fell on the last Triple Salchow and lost her balance during the second-to-last spin. In terms of transition, there wasn't much there. Her score: 98.86 . Overall: 151.88 Julia Turkkila 's La Gazza Ladra migh sound funny, but it's quite a repetitive song. With a bit more imagination, she could have made a story for it, but as it is, the programme doesn't stand out. She missed a couple of elements, the most important being the Triple Salchow, which she fell on. She obtains 89.89 points. Overall: 140.31 I don't know if Elena Glebova builds her programmes arou...

MEN Peter Liebers delivered an almost flawless programme. He had only two tiny mistakes on the second Triple Axel and on the Triple Flip. His interpretation was patched, showing only when he didn't have jumps to do. His score: 131.46 . Overall: 200.80 Nan Song has a bright future ahead of him. Technically his routine was almost perfect, although he lacked a quad jump. The silly mistake was tripping during one of the transitions. As for his presentation, he expressed the pain in Enio Moriccone's  The Mission  very well. He obtained  128.12  points. Overall:  196.80 Maxim Kovtun 's rendition of Tchaikovski's Piano Concerto no. 1  had something majestic about it. He only jumped two quads, not three as he had planned, which is still impressive. His score: 156.81 . Overall: 238.65 Han Yan  couldn't control the pressure all the way through. He had a dodgy landing on the Triple Axel and tripped out of the Triple Flip, ending up falling. These mistak...

MEN The first out of three Chinese skaters, Yi Wang  skated on A Beautiful Storm . Overall, it was a good, enjoyable skate, but he double-footed the Triple Axel and singled the second Triple Flip. His score: 63.27 . As beautiful as the music was, Peter Liebers'  routine lacked smoothness. The jumps were perfect though, except for the Triple Toeloop. He got 69.34  points. China's national champion, Nan Song , brought his inner rock star on ice, skating beautifully on Guitar Concerto . Unfortunately, his Quad Toeloop was messy and the Triple Toeloop ended up being a Single. His score: 68.68 . Maxim Kovtun  proves he's worth a lot to the Russian team with two perfectly landed quads and a 'spot on' interpretation. His silly fall at the end was a mistake that took us all by surprise. He got 81.84  points. Charming, funny and in perfect control of his elements, Han Yan  probably had the best skate he's had so far in his entire life. The music was Viper'...

Last season saw no less than 10 astonishing ladies competing for the podium at the world championships, while everyone had a tough time trying to set them apart. This year, their choice of programmes is more exciting than ever as they're bound to bring out their best, and then some, to win the most prestigious medal of them all: the Olympic medal. Alena Leonova  - although she's become one of the underdogs, always trying to reach the top, always failing spectacularly, this Russian skater has probably the best interpretation skills we've seen. Her new long programme, Carmen  by George Bizet, despite being the king of over-used programmes, is going to showcase her amazing abilities as an actress on ice. Gracie Gold  - with a predestined name and a brilliant debut, this petite American is a rising star already. For the Olympic season, she chose two powerful themes: Three Preludes by George Gershwin ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgJXIJKT-xA ) and Pyotr I. Tchaikovsky...

Every season new wonder-children seem to emerge out of Russia. Some make it, most fade away. But there's two ladies in particular that despite being so new we're still having trouble spelling their names correctly, have already made sure we'll forever remember them. Emerging out of a sea of ridiculously skilled skaters, for Adelina Sotnikova and Elizaveta Tuktamysheva this season was, before everything else, about proving they can stand out and shine on their own. At age 16, Adelina Sotnikova seems to have made a pact with herself not to mess up the moment she's been waiting for all her life: her debut on senior international ice. Dressed in a beautiful black dress, with a red flower in her hair, the teenager skated a mature short programme on the song Capriccio Espagnol . With an almost flawless jumping technique, incredible spinning speed and a complex choreography, this routine was the perfect introduction to the world of senior figure skating. It was almost screa...

Japan and Russia are in a serious competition for the gold medal. Will experience or youth win the day? Gabrielle Daleman has a lot of work ahead of her. Wearing a sparkling purple costume, the Canadian lands a dodgy triple Lutz, completely fails the triple Flip and the triple Salchow and ends with an over-rotated double Axel. The program doesn't say much artistically either, but Gabrielle can pull of some beautiful spins. She gets 92.00 points. Overall : 140.82 . Lenaelle Gilleron-Gorry 's geisha costume is the only beautiful part of her program. Failing all the Flip jumps and a triple Toeloop makes her lose energy and brings her presentation grades down. Her score: 72.39 . Overall: 121.80 . The distance between technical elements and presentation is huge today for Elizaveta Tuktamysheva . First she jumps a single Lutz, then she over-rotates the double Axel and falls on the triple Toeloop, and finally, she has a dodgy landing on the last double Toeloop. And yet, her pr...

The Ladies' competition is packed with potential champions, and with Yuna Kim missing, it is now time for Japan and Russia to have a skate off against each other. Thrilling, right? It is not an inspiring day for Gabrielle Daleman . From the costume to the failed combination and the over-rotated Flip, the Canadian seems to be struggling with her Avatar  routine. She gets 48.82 points. Lanelle Gilleron-Corry (another new face) brings a bit more on the ice. With a lovely combination of two Triple Toeloops and a good Double Axel, the Frenchwoman gets a score of 49.41 points. P.S.: who else almost didn't recognize Brian Joubert with red hair? An original spin and perfect jumps will get Kexin Zhang the lead for now, but that choreography could have been delivered with a bit more heart. She gets 54.97 points. P.S.: Don't you want team China's Panda Bear caps? Kaetlyn Osmond recovers after the fall on the Triple Toeloop and what a recovery that is! Charming a...

What makes this year's WTT stand out (in the wrong way) are the big absentees: Tessa Virtue/Scott Moir, Meryl Davis/Charlie White and Nathalie Pechalat/Fabian Bourzat (yeah, they're still one of the best couples even though they made a mess at Worlds). The ice-dance competition will suffer severely in quality due to these absences. Don't get me wrong, I'm still very much looking forward to it, but let's be honest: Kaitlyn Weaver/Andrew Poje are the only ones likely to be impeccable on ice, and if they don't take the gold medal, I'll eat my hat. So there's not much unpredictability there. Team France probably took the biggest hit. Besides Nathalie and Fabian, they also lost Florent Amodio, who is probably the most cheerful skater out there. As for the host team, Japan, there is no one registered in the pairs competition! Did anyone know you could do that in a World Team Trophy? Then again, I suppose Japan doesn't really have an option given tha...