Crystal Skate

The biggest surprise of the short programme was seeing Kaori Sakamoto end on seventh place. At almost the opposite end of the rankings, Alina Zagitova finished right where everyone put her: first position. How are these two ladies going to fare in the final? The Russian is bound to keep her place, but how high can the Japanese rise? These are the main questions swarming in my head before this final. Rika Honko  goes first, which is a position she must not be used to - we normally see her in the last group of the Grand Prix events. I didn't see her skate yesterday, but I imagine this is miles away from that. The choreography of Child of Nazareth  is intense and energetic, just as we are used to seeing from her. She makes no mistakes. Score: 105.48  -> 156.59 . Viveca Lindfors  comes out wearing a gorgeous costume which you could easily turn into a gown fit for the Oscars, so I am a bit surprised to see the routine is set to Les Miserables . That being said, the...

The ladies' SP taught me one main lesson: hierarchy in Russian female skating is as fleeting as a castle of leaves in the October wind. Okay, maybe that's being a bit over dramatic, but the thing is a world champion finished last, Cup of China's winner is not even close to the podium and there is a third Russian lady in a silver position. So, here are some of the best performances that caused this ranking: I'll start with Nicole Schott , who was in no way a threat, but had a lot of grace which came through in the alignment and use of arms in her spins. She skated to Nella Fantasia . A fall on the 3Loop hindered her score, which was 55.54  points. Mae Merenice Meite  did a great job, but didn't quite hit the mark for me, probably because I couldn't find the conenction between her two songs, except, of course, for the fact they were both by Beyonce. She's bound to get the crowds going all season long with this theme though, so it's a great choice for t...

The ladies' competition in Beijing was a topsy-turvy affair, with quite the plot twists occurring in the free programme. They made the top five skaters of the short look quite different from the top five skaters of the long. Here are my thoughts on some of the best programmes of this weekend: SHORT Elizaveta Tuktamysheva  got me excited because this was the first time I saw her in quite a while. Her short seemed a lot more composed than last time I saw her (which was last season), but it still only managed to get the 5th place despite being technically flawless. Perhaps the heavy Pisando Flores  was to blame; some of the other skaters' themes were easier to connect to. Her score was 67.10 . Alina Zagitova  made her senior Grand Prix debut in Beijing. Her short was definitely notable, but I personally think she still needs to work on her facial expressions as she wasn't conveying the desperation of Black Swan . She's got great body movements though. It was a surpri...