Crystal Skate

Three weeks ago, in Beijing, Mao Asada was almost defeated by a younger Japanese skate. This time, she has another fierce co-national to face, and Satoko Miyahara seems more than capable to take her on. What about Ashley Wagner and Anna Pogorilaya? The first to skate here in Nagano is Kaetlyn Osmond . Life is still a little blue for her as she falls on the triple Lutz and doubles out of the triple Toeloop. Nonetheless, it's an improvement since last time we saw her. Her score: 57.07 . Mariko Kihara  skates to Sakura Sakura , showing us a fully Japanese programme. The music is inspiring and the choreography is beautiful. She's got potential, even though she falls on the second triple Toeloop. She gets 54.96  points. Maria Artemieva  looks very elegant, despite the simplicity of the gray and pink dress. The style matches beautifully with Etta James' At Last . She falls on the triple Lutz though. Her score: 55.68 . Zijun Li 's programme is very tranquil. Despite on...

October 31, 2008: It's a few days before the start of the 2008 Cup of China and for Japanese superstar, Daisuke Takahashi, it's the day disaster strikes. He's just torn a ligament in his right leg, which will take him off the ice for the entire season. What's even worse is that this is the type of injury that might just abruptly end the career of one of the most promising skaters of the decade. Long before becoming a superstar, Daisuke began his life in the ice rink by choosing between hockey and figure skating. He became a senior skater at the age of 16, but couldn't cope with the pressure and didn't become Japan's National Champion until four seasons later. Phantom of the Opera Photograph: Koichi Kamoshida/Getty Images Sport In 2005/2006, at the age of 19, he almost lost the National title, and the chance to participate at the Olympics, when it was accidentally given to Nobunari Oda due to a miscalculation. The error was corrected though and Daisu...

After breaking his own record for a short programme score, Yuzuru Hanyu seems unstoppable in his quest to win the Olympic Gold Medal, but another record-breaker, Patrick Chan, is just a step behind the Japanese. On third and fourth, are Javier Fernandez and Daisuke Takahashi dueling for the Bronze or are their eyes set on a bigger prize? Zoltan Kelemen 's first presence in an Olympic final is nowhere near his best. He has three falls and a step-out of the Triple Axel. His score: 98.35 . Overall: 158.76 . Abzal Rakimgaliev 's re-enact of Once Upon a Time in America  comes in a somewhat curious costume (is that a scarf?), but seems awfully long. Technically, he has a couple of mistakes and a hand down. It's good to see Kazakhstan is pushing forward in figure skating. He gets 110.22 points. Overall: 174.40 . Viktor Romanenkov falls on the first Triple Axel and things go downhill from there. The story of Carmen  simply fades away in the light of such a mistake-filled ro...

With Evgeni Plushenko out of the way before his rivals even touched the ice, the way to the highest step of the Olympic Podium is wide open for Patrick Chan. But what about the other contenders? Daisuke Takahashi and Yuzuru Hanyu could each take the Olympic title to Japan, while Javier Fernandez will surely do his best to bring a medal to Europe. Jeremy Abbott 's programme is chaotic, but thank God he's alright. After that awful fall, to get up and skate perfectly, AND finish in time with the music, is just amazing. Judging this is going to be terribly hard, but right now I'm sure everyone's just happy he's fine. Lots to admire from this guy, who apparently doesn't give up no matter the obstacle. His score: 72.58 . Zoltan Kelemen seems affected by what happened to Abbott and can't get three rotations on the Triple Flip. He also puts a hand down on the Triple Lutz and rushes out of the spins. He gets 60.41 points. Victor Pfeifer jumps only a Single L...

PAIRS Anastasia Martiusheva/Alexei Rogonov  have a beautiful choreography, but they need to work on their presentation, especially Anastasia. The side-by-side Double Axels were just Singles, the thrown Triple Flip failed and the thrown Triple Loop was double-footed. Their score: 96.40 . Overall: 145.37 Narumi Takahashi/Ryuichi Kihara  took out all the drama, patriotism and love out of Les Miserables . Technically, she singled the Double Toeloop and double-footed both thrown jumps. They obtained 86.59  points. Overall: 138.13 Paige Lawrence/Rudi Swiegers 's routine was beautifully structured, but would have been enhanced by more epic costumes. She fell on the Triple Toeloop, singled the Double Toeloop and fell again on the thrown Triple Lutz. The side-by-side spins were in sync, but too far way from each other. Their score: 100.77 . Overall: 153.55 Marissa Castelli/Simon Shnapir  aim to defy belief in their careers. Although he doubled the Triple Toeloop and s...

MEN Adam Rippon won the crowd over with his passionate interpretation of Carmen . The costume still looks a a bit odd, but the rest of the presentation was great. Technically, his quad was dodgy and he had a little stumble at the end. His score: 82.25 . Konstantiv Menshov had speed, charisma and some beautiful moments on ice, but fell on the Triple Lutz. He obtained 73.57  points. Max Aaron grabbed the ladies' attention with his Latino footwork, but lost control on the Triple Lutz. His score: 76.21 . Jeremy Abbott 's routine was charming and smooth. He double-footed the Quad Toeloop, but otherwise delivered a good skate. He obtained 78.78  points. Sergei Voronov looked dashing in his black and white costume. The programme itself benefited from difficult footwork and flawless technique. His score: 79.80 . Nobunari Oda truly made his homeland proud today. Skating on Cotton Club , he landed every jump and showed off his showman abilities. Excellent job! He obtain...

The Joe Luis Arena might not have been blessed with the roar coming from a full ice-rink, but that didn't stop skaters from starting the Grand Prix 'marathon' at full speed. Here are the highlights of the first grand prix competition. MEN Tatsuki Machida   was the surprise of the event. Skating on the soundtrack of East of Eden , a 1955 film starring James Dean, he plummeted to the top after a flawless programme in the short, defeating his two more experienced countrymen, both of whom were favourites for the podium. The long programme featured Igor Stravinski's Firebird  and a tacky costume, but was otherwise delivered beautifully. His score: 91.18 (Short Programme), 174.20  (Long Programme), 265.38  (Overall). Jason Brown 's astonishment when he saw his SP score proves just how much talent this 19-year old has. He skated on Prince's The Question of U  and managed to finish the short on second place despite lacking a quadruple jump. Unfortunately, his...

The highest stakes in figure skating have always been in the men's competition. They have the most difficult elements, so it's only natural they should receive the greatest glory. However, having fans expect great things from you is a double-edged sword and many a skater has chosen a grand programme just for the sake of grandness, ensuring a big fat flop. Let's see how some of the top skaters decide to play their hand this season:   Evan Lysacek  - his name is on everyone's lips because when an Olympic champion sets his mind on a second gold medal, he is bound to become 'the skater of the moment' (at least as far as America is concerned). This is a skater whose always had grand programmes (he won the last Olympics with Scheherazade ) so there was really no point in him going another direction. For the short program he chose the oh-so-famous Swan Lake  by Pyotr Iylich Tchaikovsky. The bad thing about this music is that it's been chosen so many times by so m...

Figure skating is, before everything else, an unpredictable sport. Although more often than not, a Short Program can win a medal, sometimes the odds change in the last minute, as this final proved. Romain Ponsart did his best to express the tragedy of Swan Lake  and in terms of presentation skills, he has a bright future ahead of him. The only problem with this routine is that it was a bit too ambitious: he planned two quads, but touched the ice on the first and fell on the second. That single Axel didn't help his score either. He got 208.20 points. Overall: 165.59 . P.S.: Quirky ballet dance happening in team France's camp. If Yi Wang is a fan of Metallica or not is anyone's guess. Despite skating on their music, the Chinese didn't seem to put a lot of heart into his program. Technically, he failed the quad, but his best jump was the triple Salchow. His score: 125.27 . Overall: 183.57 . Han Yan 's routine was about a masquerade, which is why his costume...

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...

The first day of men's competition is about to start. Canada, Russia and Japan have the strongest teams. Will they rise to their reputation? Yi Wan 's program cannot not be compared to Michal Brezina's given that they skate on the same music. Unfortunately for the Chinese, he does not have the skating or the presentation skills of the Czech. Comparison aside, this is a solid program even if it does not impress. Yi gets 58.30 points. Romain Ponsart lands a quad in combination with a triple, just to fail a jump later. The music doesn't help him a lot either, and the program does come off a bit dull. His score: 57.39 . Maxim Kovtun fails the test of patience and focus on his last jump, which is really  a shame because his quad was bloody perfect and his last spin was very original. He gets 76.67 points. Max Aaron 's legacy looks good so far. With one of the best jumping techniques out there, the American still has a lot to learn about presentation. His s...

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...