Crystal Skate

The winner, after a shaky short programme, was Nathan Chen The results of the men's short programme left a lot of figure skater fans baffled, particularly those like me, who didn't watch it. The standings at the start of the final had Jason Brown first, Alexander Samarin second, Nathan Chen third, Boyang Jin seventh and Dmitri Aliev ninth. There might be others who surprised you, but these were the names that stood out to me the most. The final therefore started with all possibilities widely open. We were off to a rocky start with Daniel Samohin 's rendition of Once Upon a Time in Mexico . The Israeli fell on a 3Salchow and both 3Axels before losing control of the change combination spin. He couldn't find it in him to mask the disappointment, so the presentation got worse the more errors he made. Score: 133.66  -> 205.99 . Keiji Tanaka  followed in Daniel's footsteps - he stepped out of three jumps (4Salchow, 3Axel and 3Lutz) as well as tripled out of th...

Canada's Nam Nguyen performed much better home than he did at Skate America Photo: Lindsey Wasson/Getty Images North America Guess who miscalculated the time difference between Lavac, Quebec, Canada and London, United Kingdom? Yep, yours truly. Long story short, the men's short programme is the first competition I'm commenting on because I tuned in for the pairs' about 10 minutes before it ended. Oh well, I'll watch that one after. Roman Sadovsky  is the first skater to go out. He puts a hand down on the 4Salchow and falls on the 3Axel. However, he also lands a 4Toeloop, which shows a lot of potential. He does finish behind the music this time. Score: 67.72 . Kevin Aymoz 's routine is so much fun! He skates to Horns by Brye Fox. Great idea to sync the spins to the softer parts of the song. His face isn't relaxed enough to interpret the music during the tougher elements, but he'll learn that in time. He over-rotates the 3Axel. Score: 78.83 . B...

When scores are very close to one another in figure skating, you know you're in for quite a ride. This is even truer in the men's event, where the technical score has a lot of weight, so in consequence, mistakes do too. The final in Osaka was a perfect example of this exact situation, so let's see how and why the top 5 changed in the free skate. Keegan Messing  was one of two skaters to maintain their short programme position. He skated to a medley of Charlie Chaplin soundtracks, which made me want to wish he had skated last week in Beijing, so we could have compared it to Javier's interpretation of the same theme. Keegan's got the silly act down, so this was a great choice of music for him. The quad was so low though, his free leg touched the ice. His free score: 155.67 ; his total score: 235.80 . Jason Brown   avoided the quad in the free skate, which was probably for the best given that there were so many errors in his performance. He fell on both 3Axels and ...

The men's competition in Osaka started with a fiasco for Japan and sad news for figure skating fans worldwide. The sport's most iconic male skater in recent years and Japan's (and my personal) absolute favourite, Yuzuru Hanyu, injured his ankle during practice and had to withdraw. This also means he can't make it to the Grand Prix Final, which will be particularly upsetting for him as it's being hosted in Nagoya, Japan. Still, let's not dwell on the negative, but wish him a speedy recovery, and move our attention to what went on in his absence. The gold was suddenly and unbelievably reachable, and here are the 5 men who are closest to it at the moment: Keegan Messing  did not expect to come to Osaka at the beginning of the season. Patrick Chan's withdrawal is the reason why he could participate. I think he rose very well to the occasion, despite the fall on the 3Axel. His transitions were surprisingly difficult, peppered with the steps we all know from Sin...

The third final of this season's Skate America is about to start. Is it going to be a reversal of the outcome as seen in the pairs' final or are Shoma Uno, Adam Rippon and Jason Brown going to keep their current standings? Let's start by looking at those most likely to reach the podium. Boyang Jin  has been working over the summer to improve his presentation. Choosing the comedic, but melancholic Avenue  helped a little, but he's still got a long way to go. Love his interactions with the judges though - talk about getting up close and personal. Technically, he steps out of the quad Salchow and falls on the quad Toeloop. There's also a double-footed Axel. His score: 172.15 . Overall: 245.08. Shoma Uno, from Japan, at the end of his short programme in Chicago Photograph: Tasos Katopodis, Getty Images North America The atmosphere stays jazzy thanks to Nam Nguyen 's An American in Paris . He seems very comfortable with this musical style. The only mistake ...

The men's event is usually the most high-profile, and that does not change here, where we've got skaters like Yuzuru Hanyu, Javier Fernandez and Denis Ten striving to get as high on the podium as they can. We're bound to get a show out of this short programme. Jason Brown, from the US, gets groovy Source: Xiaolu Ghu/Getty Images Asia China's poster boy Han Yan  makes him homeland proud with a programme set to If I Were a Rich Man . I've said before that this needs to be funnier, and I stand by it - perhaps mouthing the words or expressing the audible sighs that punctuate the song might help. He also steps out of the quad Toeloop. His score: 84.45 . Jason Brown  knows that costumes are an important part of the showmanship, which is why he always takes great care in choosing them. He's got so much going for him artistically, but until he lands a quad, he can't play with the 'big boys' at the top, I'm afraid. Love the triple Lutz jumped with...

Last time we saw Javier Fernandez, he was slightly short of his best performance. Let's hope this event will give him the opportunity to prove Skate Canada was just bad luck. And what about Max Aaron and Jason Brown? They are fresh from their minor victories, but it's hard to say if they can keep it up in Moscow in front of the array of talented competitors they must face. Moris Kvitelashvili  makes for a wonderful Lestat from Interview with a Vampire . He's funny, looks like a young Dracula and is just accurate enough technically to leave us with a good impression. He falls on the triple Axel though. His score: 62.24 . Misha Ge impresses once more Photograph: Kevin Lee/Getty Images Asia The soundtrack of W.E.  is growing in popularity among skaters. Jeremy Ten  joins the group of skaters who have used it, and his version might be the first that sticks with me. You can see all the elements of the tempestuous love story and many fabulous jumps. He gets 73.91  ...

Unexpected shifts of places are not uncommon in the men's competition, but they can still be shocking when they happen. So we're off with Machida, Abbott and Brown leading. Let's see how they, and other top contenders, do: It always baffles me that Russian young skaters, like Adian Pitkeev , choose extremely intense music to skate on instead of going for something that might be fun. The result is that they don't project towards the audience, but are rather closed on themselves, like they're focusing too hard to follow the choreography. Technically, he falls on the quad. His score: 135.94 . Overall: 212.07 . From left to right: Brown, Machida, Nguyen Photograph: Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images North America Denis Ten  has stepped into a new musical territory with songs from New Impossibilities,  a musical project filled with Arabian rhythms. I'm sure this program will be a masterpiece by the end of the season, but right now, it looks as if he's not p...

There are 12 men competing at Skate America in the individual event. Three of them are looking to reinforce their worth, two hope they can redeem themselves and the rest are just here to gain some experience. Let's see how the best of them pull through: Artur Gachinski  still can't land his quads, which is just painful to watch because artistically, he's as good as ever. He's got Tatiana Tarasova on his side now so maybe she can fix him. His music is Cry Me a River  by Michael Buble. He gets 75.71  points. Nam Nguyen  seems to be having the time of his life here. His music choice, Sinnerman  by Nina Simone, is an incredibly tricky song to skate on because of the rapid changes in rhythm, but he never struggles with it. His ease reminds me of Patrick Chan in his earlier days. His score: 73.71 . Representing Russia's younger generation of skaters, Adian Pitkeev  skates on Rachmaninoff. He manages alright with only a minor mistake on his quad, but artis...

Chicago is less than a week away from hosting the 2014 Skate America and so it is time for me to start blogging again. Skate America will open the Grand Prix Series and as such it is the first truly important competition of the season. 2014/2015 will undoubtedly be the season a new generation of champions emerges, as many Olympic and World title holders have withdrawn from competitive ice. However, with the standards of the sport getting higher each year, it's become a lot less easy to predict who will climb the steps of the podiums. But before we get to the medal predictions, there's one thing we've got to mention first. This season is the first time we are able to hear lyrics in all the events. To that, I can only say it is high time that the ISU allowed it. The words are making it less difficult for skaters to tell a story, especially those who don't have a partner to share the storytelling with. They also help the public understand a routine a lot better and thu...

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...

MEN Alexander Majorov never fails to find original stories for his programmes. Skating on Archangel  by T.J. Bergersen, he double-footed the Quad Toeloop, singled both Triple Lutzes and fell on the Triple Flip. His score: 120.90 . Overall: 180.62 Nan Song 's mission in France can be ticked as a success, although he could have used a bit more emotion in the interpretation. He also had a hand down on the Quad Toeloop and double-footed the Triple Loop. He obtained 133.37  points. Overall: 204.73 Michal Brezina  is once more battling his inconsistency demons. Although he did a tremendous job impersonating the infamous Sherlock Holmes , his jumps were rusty at best. He over-rotated the first Quad Salchow and completely failed the second, fell on the Triple Toeloop, singled the Triple Flip and Triple Salchow, and doubled the Triple Toeloop. His score: 134.31 . Overall: 206.22 Florent Amodio 's life might have lost a shade of pink after this performance. Although he stil...