Crystal Skate

The winner: Rika Kihira Japan's greatest stakes were in the ladies' competition, where they knew they had the power to even take all the steps of the podium. However, there were some pretty strong rivals to defeat in order to get there. Australia's Kailani Craine  was not one of said rivals. She fell on the 3Lutz, but otherwise held herself together despite looking exhausted and nervous. Loved the showgirl attitude which shone throughout the choreography and her presentation. Score: 96.01  -> 154.22 . Mae Berenice Meite  had had a nightmare in the short programme, but picked herself up in the final. Her only mistake was a fall on a 2Loop. I'm not sure the music she chose fits her - she's a very powerful skater and the music just didn't seem to match her style. Score: 112.09  -> 162.58 . Courtney Hicks  had reasons to be proud of herself. Her only mistakes were doubling out of a 3Salchow and 3Lutz, but she kept the distraught facial expression on...

Mako Yamashita, the girl who almost defeated two Russian powerhouses The first leg of the ladies' competition might have turned some worlds upside down, but you never say it's done until it's done in figure skating. Starting off well in the short programme is one thing, but maintaining positions after the free skate is the real test. And so, here is how the skaters did in Laval yesterday. The first skater was Daria Panenkova  from Russia. She skated to Lara Fabian's You're Not From Here , and unfortunately finished behind the music. Not a lot of speed for Daria, but she did end most of her jumps beautifully. Score: 117.13  -> 168.54 . Yura Matsuda  had better presentation skills than the Russian, but the technical content is not at the same level yet. Even though she made no mistakes, she had too many doubles in her routine compared to Daria. Score: 104.24  -> 157.59 . Alaine Chartrand  brought the arena to their feet with her rendition of Sunse...

Looking confident - Elizaveta Tuktamusheva of Russia Grand Prix events are always good at shaking the ice and turning expectations upside down, and that's pretty much what happened during the ladies' short programme. Was the biggest news of the night Evgenia Medvedeva finishing on 7th place or Elizabeta Tuktamysheva finishing in 1st? At 21, Elizaveta Tuktamysheva  is already a Russian veteran, which is crazy. Maybe it's for that reason (belonging to the 'older' generation) that many people have written her off. So she thought she'd write herself back into the story by starting to jump 3Axels. Boy, was it worth it! She jumped it, she landed it, it was glorious. Score: 74.22 . Wakaba Higuchi 's short routine has the potential of being one of the most interesting ones of the season. However, I feel there's a long way to go until that point. As so many skaters, she struggles with looking relaxed while there are still jumps to be done, and that r...

The Grand Prix Series have started! Hooray, woohoo, finally! Taking place in Chicago, Illinois, Skate America has already begun and given us the first potential winner. After an amazing performance at the World Championships, Ashley Wagner secured the best spot for winning the first Grand Prix event of the season. Mai Mihara, of Japan, is on second despite this being her first Senior Grand Prix event ever, ahead of Gracie Gold and Mao Asada. Kanako Murakami 's disappointing performance in the short means she gets to start the final. She skates to E lucevan le stelle , a piece of music that starts softly and ends grandly. She double-foots the landing of the triple Flip and altogether looks a little disheartened. Really feeling for her, so I hope her season goes only up from here. Her score: 97.16 . Overall: 145.03 . We change the musical style with Angelina Kuchvalska 's Carmina Burana . This is more dramatic than Kanako's programme, and I can see the potential of the r...