Crystal Skate

Saitama, Japan, December 2013: A beautiful lady in a flowery dress lands a Triple Lutz in the roar of the crowd. This is her home country and she is loved here, but she's about to be even more famous and become everyone's sweetheart. The Lutz is only the first jump out of a perfect series that will eventually bring her the prize she's been looking for, for the last 14 years: the National title. Skating on music by Bill Whelan. Photograph: Jasper Juinen /Getti Images North America Akiko Suzuki became known worldwide years before being crowned Japan's national champion. She made her debut on a major international stage at the 2009 Cup of China, which she won. Immediately striking us as artistically brilliant, she skated the short on Andalucia  and Fire Dance  by Bill Whelan. She then went on to showcase her versatility by telling the story of modern-day Romeo and Juliet with West Side Story . This was the programme that would show us just how good she was at expre...

After four impeccable performances, Mao Asada, Carolina Kostner and Julia Lipnitskaia are a stone's throw away from each other. It will take an absolutely flawless performance to win this gold medal. Nyah  by Hans Zimmer is quite a happy song to skate to and Valentina Marchei  enjoys every moment. She's elegant, charismatic and knows just how to dance to a guitar. There is no real mistake here. Her score: 107.37 . Overall: 157.64 . Anne Line-Gjersem  chose a very difficult part of the West Side Story  soundtrack and it hurts her. There's no trace of the romance in there and she's not really following the rise and fall of the music. Technically, her only mistake is the fall on the Triple Loop. Not a big fan of the costume! She gets 80.55  points. Overall: 130.03 . La Bayadere  is a beautiful song and Natalia Popova 's pleasant style can only improve it. Unfortunately, the technical errors bring the interpretation down. She falls on two jumps and double...

With as many as four great skaters trying to claim the World title in Saitama, the ladies' event is bound to be quite the spectacle. Here's the first part: Making up for the mistakes in Sochi, Mao Asada  is absolutely sublime. This is her last competition and judging by the flood of flowers and gifts she's just received, there is at least one country in the world that will miss her dearly. Her score: 78.66 . Kanako Murakami  strikes you as delicate and emotional even before entering the ice, so it's no surprise that her chosen music for the short is Violin Muse . She's great technically and so powerful artistically that you can read the sadness in her eyes throughout the routine. 2013/2014 hasn't been the best of seasons for her, so it's good to see her firm on her skates. She gets 60.86  points. Another skater whose grace we will miss after this season is Akiko Suzuki . Hymne de l'Amour  is her music and this performance is the perfect ending to h...

PAIRS With another failed lift and a couple of dodgy jumps, Margaret Purdy & Michael Marinaro 's Casablanca routine failed to impress. Their score: 91.89 . Overall: 131.39 Paige Lawrence & Rudi Swiegers had a couple of mistakes (she fell on the Triple Toeloop; they both singled the Double Axel combination), but nothing too disastrous. In terms of presentation, they could have sold that epic music a bit better. They got 106.88  points. Overall: 159.82 Mari Vartmann & Aaron Van Cleave 's jumps were a nightmare today (both the side-by-side and the thrown), which is probably why the interpretation was next to nonexistent. The side-by-side spins were also out of sync and quite slow. Their score: 94.51 . Overall: 149.59 Wenjing Sui & Han Cong premiered a Quad Twist today. Although Kalinka  seems an unusual choice for a Chinese couple, they presented it very well. The costumes were adorable. The only mistake was her fall at the end of the Axel. They got 124.75...

Last season, Akiko Suzuki and Elene Gedevanishvili emerged as two promising names, winning a World bronze medal, for the Japanese, and a European bronze medal, for the skater from Georgia. This season, the fairy-tale came to a not-so-happy ending - Gedevanishvili ended 14th at the European Championships, while Suzuki finished on 12th place at the World Championships. Despite it, there is something about these ladies that will always catch our eyes. Akiko Suzuki managed to finish the season a lot less bruised than Gedevanishvili. In fact, if we look carefully at  her competitions and ignore the fiasco from the World Championships, we'll realize this was not a bad season at all for her - silver at the Four Continents, silver at both Grand Prix competitions, bronze in the Grand Prix Final and a brilliant gold at the World Team Trophy. Her short programme music was a mash-up between the Kill Bill  and Once Upon a Time in Mexico  soundtracks. The programme was a hit, even...

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...