Figure skating: If you like seeing Americans in fourth place, the Cup of China was the Grand Prix event for you! Mirai Nagasu, Adam Rippon and the ice dance duo of Madison Chock/Evan Bates all took fourth. Chock and Bates set a personal best with 149.54 points.
One surprise: Tatsuki Machida upset fellow Japanese skater Daisuke Takahashi.
Speedskating: The U.S. championships are complete, and the World Cup team will include a lot of familiar names — Shani Davis, Heather Richardson, Tucker Fredricks, Elli Ochowicz and more. Richardson won every distance at those championships.
MMA: The World Series of Fighting debut on NBC Sports Network (after an MLS playoff game) featured three quick knockouts (Andrei Arlovski, Anthony Johnson, newcomer Tyrone Spong) and one upset (Marlon Moraes over the increasingly indifferent Miguel Torres). Spong beat a guy with almost as much belly fat as I have.
Bellator also was knockout-heavy. Richard Hale advanced to the heavyweight final over winded opponent Thiago Santos, and Shahbulat Shamhalaev swarmed Mike Richman to advance to the featherweight final.
Up this week: U.S. women’s hockey in the Four Nations Cup.
This is the first of a new series called Myriad Questions, in which we’ll try to ask athletes a few questions a little more candid than their official bios and a little less technical than the specialty sites. We’ll learn how athletes are just like us (school problems, travel issues, etc.) and not like us (climbing a rope upside-down, a pole vaulting exercise).
Up first is one of a handful of people who have shared a ski lift with me: Sarah Hendrickson, who featured in this 2009 USA TODAY story and video about women’s ski jumpers fighting to get into the Olympics. They’re finally going to the Olympics, and they finally have a World Cup circuit — which Hendrickson dominated in the debut season of 2011-12, winning nine of 13 events.
This season, she’ll be the defending World Cup champion AND a new high school graduate. Yeah, she’s that young.
She answered email while prepping for the new season and her last days of high school. Here goes …
What’s the biggest difference between World Cup competition and Continental Cup (the top competition for women before World Cup events started)?
Although the girl competitors are basically the same between the two circuits, there are definitely some major differences between the two. Obviously the media coverage with TV and reporters that are constantly at our WC’s and awesome for getting media coverage. As well as prize money, which is another bonus. As far as the first WC season and the difference between the COC seasons before, the level has gotten much high and the number of girls have also increased.
In back-to-back competitions on the same weekend in Hinterzarten, Germany, you finished ninth and first. What was the difference between the two?
The competition on day one in Hinterzarten was very weather-depending. The wind and snow played a huge role and I also didn’t jump that well technically. This happens in ski jumping and I wasn’t upset with that result.
You did some competitions outside the World Cup, including New Years Day in Calgary. What drew you there?
For New Years I had to go to Canada with the younger women’s team to qualify for World Jr. Championships based on Women Ski jumping USA standards/qualifications. It’s important to have the whole Jr. qualify at one competition so younger girls can see what they are pushing for to make the team in the future.
I was honored to do commentary for EuroSport after my win in Lillehammer and I honestly don’t know who asked me but it was an amazing opportunity.
You had surgery just as you went back to school. Was that aggravating?
Surgery was a huge priority this spring and although it was a bummer starting with school they understood. It was nice to have a distraction away from not training and could focus on school.
If Winter Sports School had a soccer team, would you crush everyone in the state?
It would be close to impossible to have a team but there are some talented kids that go here so it would be interesting!
How did the ACT go?
The ACT is hard and I wish I had more time to study for it. I have never been good at test taking so I struggled but truthfully I am happy it is over.
What’s your top college choice?
Since I am on the (U.S. Ski Team), Westminster is my top college pick followed by U of U.
How do you possibly have time to use Pinterest?
I love love love Pinterest! I love cooking so my main search is the food and drink!
What’s your favorite jumping hill?
My favorite hill is Lillehammer’s large hill. I have not jumped it in a few years but I have my personal record on it along with some other good memories on it
Worst travel experience?
A couple years ago we had to fly to Japan but tickets were cheaper to fly via Europe. To say the least it took about 3 days to get there since our first flight out was delayed! After sleeping in many airports and long van rides we finally made it without bags. I love Japan but it’s a long travel day(s).
If you could build a ski jump facility anywhere in the world, where would it be?
Somewhere in South America! Although this is a winter sport I don’t love the cold so a tropical location would be a nice training summer hill!
Let’s rush out this wrapup before the power runs out:
Alpine skiing: The time it takes you to read this sentence is Ted Ligety’s margin of victory (2.75 seconds) in the season-opening World Cup giant slalom on the big glacier in Solden, Austria, the traditional opener of the World Cup season in which fans celebrate the first snows of the Alps, putting away for a moment their concerns about the state of the climate and the European economy, which continues to be plagued by crippling debt in a few countries while Germany, a traditional power in winter sports, ponders the fate of the Euro, which has never been fully supported in some portions of the British aristocracy, which was also concerned that Lindsey Vonn missed a gate and didn’t finish the opening women’s race, along with Julia Mancuso, whose mishap you can read about here.
Figure skating: Spain’s Javier Fernandez upset Canada’s Patrick Chan to win Skate Canada. Depending on your point of view, that’s either an inspiring first Grand Prix win for Spain or signs of trouble with one of Canada’s star athletes. American Ross Miner bounced back after a rough short program to finish fifth.
Better news for Canadian women: Kaetlyn Osmond edged Japan’s Akiko Suzuki by 1.29 points to win. Americans Gracie Gold and Caroline Zhang were seventh and ninth.
The U.S. pairs were the last two. The USA’s Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donahue were fifth in the ice dance, predictably won by Canadian greats Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir.
But if you want to look ahead to the Big Ice Dance Throwdown and compare scores, Virtue/Moir won Skate Canada with 169.41; the USA’s Meryl Davis and Charlie White won Skate America with 176.28.
Short-track speedskating: J.R. Celski was second in the 1,500 meters and fourth in the 1,000, and the U.S. men finished third in the relay in an otherwise dreary World Cup weekend for American skaters in Montreal.
Bobsled/luge/skeleton: Wikipedia currently lists 17 current sliding tracks in the world, with two more planned. It’s about to be 16. The Torino 2006 track will be dismantled.
Oh, it was scheduled to host a World Cup luge stop in December? Too bad.
Perhaps I’m being paranoid in thinking people are going to gripe about the news that Lolo Jones has made the U.S. team for the upcoming World Cup bobsled season.
Let’s check Twitter and collect all the insane reaction, shall we?
@lolojones congrats on making the US Bobsled Team! Just remember to jump in the sled not over it!!
And most of the other reaction has been either a simple “congratulations” or a weak reference to Cool Runnings. Maybe the crazies on Twitter aren’t morning people.
So maybe this is a non-controversy. But just in case people are skeptical about Jones’ inclusion on the World Cup roster, let’s take a closer look.
Here’s the existing roster listed on the USA Bobsled and Skeleton site:
Drivers:
– Elana Meyers (2012 World Championship bronze; as push athlete, won 2010 Olympic bronze),
– Jazmine Fenlator (one full year on World Cup)
– Bree Schaaf (2010 Olympian, 5th place)
Push athletes:
– Emily Azevedo (2010 Olympian, 5th place)
– Katie Eberling (2012 World Championship bronze)
– Ingrid Marcum (bobsledder/weightlifter in mid-30s)
– Brittany Reinbolt (football player — yes, American football — with little experience)
– Hillary Werth (not much experience)
Last season, a few others appeared on the World Cup circuit — drivers Jamie Greubel and Megan Hill, along with push athletes Ida Bernstein and Nicole Vogt. But typically, USA I and USA II were some combination of Meyers, Schaaf, Azevedo and Eberling. And they were the only U.S. athletes with top-10 finishes. The World Championship results: Meyers/Eberling 3rd, Fenlator/Marcum 10th, Schaaf/Azevedo.
So the team wasn’t really settled beyond the top two sleds. Marcum’s Twitter feed, with the great handle IronValkyrie, makes a vague reference to an injury, which likely accounts for her absence from the selection process this fall.
The selection started with a push competition, where a few Olympic athletes gave it a try. The results, with returnees in bold and Olympic guests in bold italic:
Those results might make you think these Olympians are picking up the sport rather quickly. Here’s what women’s bobsled coach Todd Hays, whom you might remember from past Olympic medal runs, had to say at the start competition:
It’s great to see talented athletes like this give back to their USA teammates. And it’s of course a great opportunity for a coach like me to test his recruitment skills by trying to get these athletes to commit to our sports. I’m not successful yet, but we’ll see if we can entice them to give it a try.
Fountain (@Hept_Chic) said she had fun, and she congratulated Jones this morning. But she wasn’t in the full selection races. (Update: Slight injury, apparently.) Madison and Jones were there, though Madison just rode as a fore-runner with driver Elana Meyers, who got a bye thanks to her World Championship results last year. Eberling also didn’t compete. The rest of the top nine from the push championships competed.
The first selection race results:
1. Jamie Greubel and Aja Evans 1:56.96 (58.50, 58.46); 2. Jazmine Fenlator and Lolo Jones 1:57.01 (58.46, 58.55); 3. Bree Schaaf and Emily Azevedo 1:57.80 (58.82, 58.98); 4. Megan Hill and Maureen Ajoka 2:00.96 (1:00.36, 1:00.60); 5. Katelyn Kelly and Tracey Stewart 2:01.36 (1:00.79, 1:00.57);
Big gap there between the top three and the next two. And rookie push athlete Aja Evans was clearly legit.
Schaaf then decided she wasn’t fully fit after hip surgery. She’s heading back to rehab. That makes the driver selections rather easy, especially after the second selection race:
1. Jamie Greubel and Aja Evans 1:55.94 (57.56, 58.38); 2. Jazmine Fenlator and Cherrelle Garrett 1:55.99 (57.67, 58.32); 3. Katelyn Kelly and Tracey Stewart 1:59.49 (59.68, 59.81); 4. Megan Hill and Maureen Ajoka 1:59.50 (59.26, 1:00.24);
The World Cup team will have three drivers in three sleds, so with Schaaf out, it’s rather obvious: Meyers, Greubel, Fenlator.
Then they decided to take six push athletes. Eberling and Azevedo are the returnees with world or Olympic medals. Then there’s Evans, the rookie who left Lake Placid with a start record. Garrett, like Evans a former college track athlete, showed enough to get a look. And then two summer Olympians — Madison and Jones.
So what’s really going on here?
The USA’s results last year weren’t that great, and the team is still looking for the right mix of athletes. Like a national soccer team two years out from the World Cup, they’re experimenting.
And if you look at the selected athletes, you see Jones is far from a shoo-in for Sochi 2014. The USA will get three sleds — at most — in the Olympics. Eberling and Azevedo have the experience, and their results this fall have been good. Then Evans is the hotshot rookie. That leaves Jones, Madison and Garrett competing to push (pardon the pun) one of those athletes out of the top three.
The competition might go right up to the last weeks before Sochi, and what seems set in stone now might not be the case in a year. Remember Jean Racine and Jennifer Davidson, the dominant duo before Salt Lake 2002?
We’ll see if 2014 proves to be controversial as well. For now, it’s not. Lolo Jones is one of a handful of track and field athletes giving bobsled a shot, and she has shown enough potential to get a shot in international competition.
And if anyone sees it otherwise, please refer him or her to this post. If nothing else, maybe their eyes will glaze over reading through the results.
That’s a Jethro Tull reference. Would you prefer Avril Lavigne? Some skater boys did pretty well over the weekend.
Short-track: A lot of world records fell over the weekend at the World Cup opener in Calgary, and J.R. Celski came up with one of the biggest, breaking the 40-second mark in the 500 meters. Celski also picked up a third-place finish, as did John-Henry Krueger, a discretionary pick for the World Cup squad who must have done some industrial smoothing to finish just behind Celski and Canadian favorite Charles Hamelin in the 500.
Canada’s Valerie Maltais took the women’s 1,000-meter record, though the overall World Cup leader at 1,000 is Britain’s Elise Christie.
Not a great weekend for the U.S. women, who finished eighth in the team classification. The men were a solid fourth, well ahead of China, despite finishing eighth in the relay.
Figure skating: Here, the U.S. women had a great weekend. For all my fretting over the “rise up and fade” tendencies they’ve had over the last few years, the results at Skate America speak for themselves: Ashley Wagner first, Christina Gao second. (On the downside, Rachael Flatt was ninth out of 10.)
Meryl Davis and Charlie White won the ice dance so comfortably they probably could’ve tossed in a bit of the Chicken Dance toward the end. Caydee Denney and John Coughlin were a promising third in pairs.
So if you want to panic about anything from a U.S. standpoint, consider the men. Japan swept the podium, Jeremy Abbott was fifth, and the other U.S. men were in the bottom four.
MLS: The playoff field is set, with Columbus and Dallas falling short of the last spots. San Jose has the Supporters’ Shield, but L.A. defender Omar Gonzalez cares not for the Quakes’ style of play, accusing them of some off-the-ball ref-not-looking shenanigans. And Galaxy supporters group Angel City Brigade raises some pointed questions for security at Buck Shaw Stadium.
Women’s soccer: Germany announced its re-emergence, holding the USA to a 1-1 draw on the Fan Tribute Tour at Toyota Park, the former home of the Chicago Red Stars.
Swimming: Missy Franklin is going to Cal. Can’t blame her, but those of use who learned to swim at the University of Georgia may be a little sad to hear the news.
Triathlon: Gwen Jorgensen knows how to finish a season in style — second place in the last World Championships series race, moving her up to ninth on the year. Sarah Groff was ninth on the day, seventh on the year.
The U.S. men had a rougher time, but the USA also came away with several paratriathlon and age-group prizes. If only they had a category for “over-40, can’t stand cold water or running” entries.
Rowing: Want to see a frightening photo? Go to the Head of the Charles’ official site and wait for “Day 2 underway” to come around. Is this rowing or rugby?
Swimming: A lot of Olympic swimmers pass on the World Cup season, particularly after the Olympics, but Anthony Ervin and Jessica Hardy seem to be making up for lost time with a few wins on the circuit this weekend.
Also in the Team USA roundup: Katie Compton’s latest cyclocross medal and the Head of the Charles.
Helmets, close quarters, right turns — that’s short track. Copyright 2011 Thomas Di Nardo / Bella Faccie Sports Media via U.S. Speedskating
From the grace, artistry and predictability of figure skating, we turn to the wild world of short-track speedskating. Figure skating may be in the hands of the judges, but short-track skating is often in the hands of the refs, who have to determine whether skaters false-started, changed their lines, impeded each other or went all-out roller derby on each other. Does anyone envy that job?
Storylines
– New U.S. coaches and a split camp. Some skaters filed a claim of physical and emotional abuse against head coach Jae Su Chun and assistant Jun Hyung Yeo. Others disagreed. But while they may have beaten the rap on the abuse charges, they admitted they knew U.S. skater Simon Cho had tampered with Canadian Olivier Jean’s skates at the 2011 World Team Championships. So the coaches are gone. Are the bad feelings gone as well?
– Not that South Korea ever dominated short-track speedskating quite to the extent that, say, China dominates badminton and table tennis, but going a couple of years without a South Korean woman in the World Championship overall top three is a little surprising.
Events
World Cup
Oct. 19-21: Calgary
Oct. 26-28: Montreal
Nov. 30-Dec. 2: Nagoya, Japan
Dec. 7-9: Shanghai
Feb. 1-3: Sochi, Russia
Feb. 8-10: Dresden, Germany
U.S. Championships Dec. 20-22: Salt Lake City
World Championships
March 8-10: Debrecen, Hungary
Qualifying
World Cup: The top five overall in the U.S. Single Distance Championships (yes, “overall” and “single distance” are contradictory, but bear with us) qualified for the World Cup teams.
World Championship: Separate qualifying process.
How to watch
The International Skating Union promises some live streaming.
Names to know
With the exception of Apolo Anton Ohno, every U.S. skater from the 2010 Olympics is still active. Could Ohno come back again?
Women
– Lana Gehring (USA): Bronze medalist (500m) at 2012 World Championships in addition to relay silver. On 2010 Olympic bronze-medal relay team. Good 2011-12 World Cup season: 3rd in 1,500m, 4th in 1,000m — won both distances at February meet in the Netherlands. Co-wrote statement in support of Chun.
– Jessica Smith (USA): U.S. overall champion. 2012 Worlds relay silver medalist. Stuck with inline skating into her mid-20s and switched to the ice in time to be a 2010 Olympic alternate. Co-wrote statement in support of Chun.
– Alyson Dudek (USA): On 2010 Olympic bronze-medal relay team. One of Chun’s accusers.
– Emily Scott (USA): 2012 Worlds relay silver medalist. Five-time inline skating world champion, in third year with U.S. short-track team.
– Sarah Chen (USA): Only 17 (born March 15, 1995). Finished second at U.S. championships. Former track cyclist.
– Katherine Reutter (USA, not on World Cup team): Huge year in 2011: World champion at 1,500m, World Cup champion at 1,000m and 1,500m, second overall at Worlds with a a silver and a bronze in addition to gold. Won silver in 2010 Olympics (at 1,000 meters) in addition to bronze from relay. Rehabbing from hip injuries and didn’t compete at U.S. Championships but still listed as a Category I skater. Officially neutral in Chun dispute.
– Kimberly Derrick (USA): Finished seventh at U.S. championships but added to team as discretionary pick. On 2010 Olympic bronze-medal relay team. Also competed in 2006 Olympics one day after grandfather’s death. Signed statement in support of Chun. Updated with addition to World Cup team.
– Allison Baver (USA, not on World Cup team): Three-time Olympian. Didn’t make World Cup team (finished eighth at U.S. championships). One of Chun’s accusers. Has had injury problems and is also dabbling in long-track skating.
– Tamara Frederick (USA): Has World Cup experience. Finished sixth in U.S. championships but didn’t get discretionary pick, bypassed in favor of more experienced Derrick. Signed statement in support of Chun.
– Li Jianrou (China): Reigning world champion (overall and 1,500m). Second in 2011-12 World Cup at 1,000m.
– Ha-Ri Cho (South Korea): 2011 overall world champion. In 2012: World champion at 1,000m, World Cup champion at 1,500m. A decade of international experience.
– Arianna Fontana (Italy): 2010 bronze medalist at 500m. Third in 2011 and 2012 Worlds. World Cup champion at 500m.
Top finishers by year:
World Championships overall:
2006: Sun-Yu Jin (South Korea), Wang Meng (China), Kalyna Roberge (Canada)
2007: Jin, Eun-Ju Jung (South Korea), Roberge
2008: Wang, Zhou Yang (China), Shin-Young Yang (South Korea) // 7th – Katherine Reutter (USA)
2009: Wang, Ming-Jung Kim (South Korea), Zhou // 7th – Reutter, 8th – Kimberly Derrick (USA)
2010: Seung-Hi Park (South Korea), Wang, Ha-Ri Cho (South Korea) // 6th – Reutter
2011: Cho, Reutter, Arianna Fontana (Italy)
2012 World Championships:
Overall: Li Jianrou (China), Valerie Maltais (Canada), Arianna Fontana (Italy) // 8th – Lana Gehring (USA)
500m: Fan Kexin (China), Fontana, Gehring
1,000m: Ha-Ri Cho (South Korea), Li, Maltais
1,500m: Li, Liu Qiuhong (China), Marie-Eve Drolet (Canada)
3,000m: Maltais, Fontana, Drolet
Relay: China, USA, South Korea
2012 World Cup standings:
500m: Arianna Fontana (Italy), Martina Valcepina (Italy), Liu Quihong (China) // 6th – Jessica Smith (USA)
1,000m: Yui Sakai (Japan), Li Jianrou (China), Elise Christie (Britain) // 4th – Lana Gehring (USA)
1,500m: Ha-Ri Cho (China), Eun-Byul Lee (South Korea), Gehring // 4th – Katherine Reutter (USA)
Relay: China, USA, Japan
2010 Olympics:
500m: Wang Meng (China), Marianne St-Gelais (Canada), Arianna Fontana (Italy)
1,000m: Wang, Katherine Reutter (USA), Seung-Hi Park (South Korea)
1,500m: Zhou Yang (China), Eun-Byul Lee (South Korea), Park
Relay: China, Canada, USA
2006 Olympics
500m: Wang Meng (China), Evgenia Radanova (Bulgaria), Anouk Leblanc-Boucher (Canada)
1,000m: Sun-Yu Jin (South Korea), Wang, Yang Yang-A (China)
1,500m: Sun, Eun-Kyung Choi (South Korea), Wang
Relay: South Korea, Canada, Italy
Men
– J.R. Celski (USA): U.S. overall champion. Won bronze in 2010 (at 1,500 meters) in addition to relay bronze. Then took a year off to start a film company in Seattle. Second overall in 2009 World Championships (won 3,000m); fourth overall in 2010. Still holds junior world records at 500m and 1,000m, set in 2009. One of Chun’s accusers.
– Jeff Simon (USA): Back after dealing with back problems. One of Chun’s accusers and said he would not compete on World Cup circuit if coaches were still in place.
– Travis Jayner (USA): On 2010 bronze-medal relay team. Good 2010-11 season: World relay bronze, third in World Cup 1,000m. One of Chun’s accusers.
– Chris Creveling (USA): Signed statement in support of Chun. New to international competition.
– Kyle Carr (USA): 2011 World relay bronze. One of Chun’s accusers.
– John-Henry Krueger (USA): Youngster finished sixth at U.S. championships and was added to World Cup team as discretionary pick. Signed statement in support of Chun.
– Simon Cho (USA, not on World Cup team): At center of skate-tampering controversy. 2011 world champion at 500m, fourth overall. On 2010 bronze-medal relay team. Finished ninth in U.S. championships.
– Jordan Malone (USA, not on World Cup team): On 2010 bronze-medal relay team but had a few problems in the U.S. championships. One of Chun’s accusers.
– Charles Hamelin (Canada): Veteran won 2010 Olympic gold at 500m. World Championship medalist in odd years: silver in 2007, bronze in 2009, silver in 2011. Great World Cup in 2009-10: 1st at 500m, 2nd at 1,500m, 3rd at 1,000m.
– Yoon-Gy Kwak (South Korea): Reigning world champion (overall, 1,000m, 3,000m). 2012 World Cup champion at 1,000m.
– Jinkyu Noh (South Korea): 2011 overall world champion and world junior champion; overall runner-up and 1,500m champion in 2012. Also World Cup 1,500m champion in 2012.
– Olivier Jean (Canada): Third overall in Worlds and won 500m, where he was also the World Cup champion. The target of the skate tampering that tore apart the U.S. team. You have to see his picture.
Top finishers by year:
World Championships overall:
2006: Hyun-Soo Ahn (South Korea), Ho-Suk Lee (South Korea), Francois-Louis Tremblay (Canada) // 9th – Rusty Smith (USA)
2007: Ahn, Charles Hamelin (Canada), Apolo Anton Ohno (USA) // 7th – Jordan Malone (USA)
2008: Ohno, H-S Lee, Kyung-Taek Song (South Korea)
2009: H-S Lee, J.R. Celski (USA), Hamelin // 5th – Ohno, 10th – Jeff Simon (USA)
Figure skating has one of the more interesting competition series, spreading out its best competitors over the course of a season and building toward a couple of big events with the big names. So the big names are frequently active (unlike swimming or gymnastics) but they’re not facing each other every week (unlike skiing World Cup circuits).
It seems that the big names aren’t as American as they used to be. The U.S. men are indeed overdue at the World Championships — they haven’t medaled in the past three, tying the longest drought since the 70s — but Evan Lysacek is the reigning Olympic champion. The women’s results are more shocking — when Kimmie Meissner and Sasha Cohen placed first and third at the 2006 World Championships, who could’ve imagined they’d be the last U.S. medalists of the decade? In 2010, the U.S. women were kept off the Olympic podium for the first time since 1964.
And yet the USA has somehow become a juggernaut in ice dancing, with Meryl Davis and Charlie White picking up the torch from Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto. The USA’s “A” team, which gets full funding, has one man, one woman, one pair and three ice dancing duos.
Storylines
– Comebacks: Olympic champion Evan Lysacek, the ever-entertaining Johnny Weir. Between them and consistent Jeremy Abbott, can the U.S. men make some noise this year?
– The great North American ice dancing rivalry: Meryl Davis and Charlie White (USA) vs. Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir (Canada).
– Will China return to pairs podium? A decade of dominance ended suddenly at the 2012 Worlds.
– Some consistency from U.S. women? They’ve been through a cycle in which someone steps up, then fades. Then sometimes re-emerges. Meissner was only 16 when she won the 2006 world title. Mirai Nagasu was just 14 when she won the 2008 U.S. title, but she hasn’t won it since. Nagasu was fourth in the 2010 Games, with Rachael Flatt seventh.
The USA continues to have a steady parade of World Junior medalists, including sweeps in 2007 (Caroline Zhang, Nagasu, Ashley Wagner) and 2008 (Flatt, Zhang, Nagasu). Zhang and Wagner medaled again in 2009. Then Agnes Zawadzki took over for 2010 silver and 2011 bronze, followed by Gracie Gold in 2012.
A couple of other events have been kinder. The Four Continents Championship doesn’t have the strongest field, but the USA has managed several top-five finishes in the past five years, with Wagner winning last year. Alissa Czisny won the 2010 Grand Prix Final for the first U.S. podium in that event since 2003, and she was the only U.S. finalist last year.
Events
Grand Prix
Oct. 19-21, Skate America, Kent/Seattle, Wash.
Oct. 26-28, Skate Canada, Windsor, Ontario
Nov. 2-4, Cup of China, Shanghai
Nov. 9-11, Rostelecom Cup, Moscow
Nov. 16-18, Trophee Eric Bompard, Paris
Nov. 23-25, NHK Trophy, Miyagi, Japan
Dec. 6-9, Grand Prix Final, Sochi, Russia
U.S. Championships
Jan. 20-27, Omaha
World Championships
March 10-17, London, Ontario
Qualifying
For Grand Prix Final: A couple of skaters enter three of the six Grand Prix events, but most will enter two. Points are given for first, second, third, fourth, etc., and the skater’s top two performances are added up. Top six in each discipline make the final. The ISU makes this relatively easy to follow on its site.
For World Championships: The USA can send two men, two women (er, ladies, in figure skating terminology), two pairs and three ice dancing duos. U.S. Championship winners get automatic bids. The rest are selected by committee, based on recent performances in big events.
How to watch
Order a season pass at icenetwork.com before Oct. 22, and you can get a discounted rate of $19.95 (down from $39.95). That’ll give you the Grand Prix events, U.S. championships and several other events — some live, some not, all on demand.
NBC also will have a lot of delayed coverage, including all the Grand Prix events, and the network will go live during the U.S. championships. If you’re lucky enough to get NBC affiliate Universal Sports, you’ll have more options to catch re-broadcasts. The folks at icenetwork.com were kind enough to compile their schedule.
We don’t yet have broadcasting info for the World Championships.
We can only hope the broadcasts include this:
Names to know
Figure skating is one of the few sports to hold a World Championship the same year as the Olympics, sometimes diluting the talent pool at Worlds and letting some surprising names take world titles.
Women
– Yu-Na Kim (South Korea): Olympic champion. Coming into 2012-13 season, had posted the three best scores of all time (or at least since the current scoring system went into effect): 228.56 in 2010 Olympics, 210.03 at 2009 Trophee Bompard, 207.71 at 2009 Worlds). For sake of comparison, Sasha Cohen holds the U.S. record at 197.60 in 2003. She has spent a good bit of time in North America, working for years with Canadian Brian Orser before splitting with him awkwardly. Went on hiatus but is coming back for another run. She’s still skipping the Grand Prix season.
– Mao Asada (Japan): Olympic silver medalist, two-time world champion (2008, 2010). Struggled last season after the death of her mother. Two Grand Prix events: Cup of China, NHK Trophy
– Joannie Rochette (Canada): Olympic bronze medalist in an unforgettable story, competing in her home country just a couple of days after her mother’s death. Hasn’t decided whether to return to competition.
– Carolina Kostner (Italy): World champion after years as a perennial contender. Also won 2011 Grand Prix Final after finishing elsewhere on podium for years. After all that, she plans to skip the 2012 Grand Prix season. Also had controversy in offseason when her boyfriend, former Olympic walking champion Alex Schwazer, tested positive for EPO at the Olympics.
– Ashley Wagner (USA): The only woman on the U.S. A team. 2012 U.S. champion (previous high was 3rd in 2008 and 2010). 2012 Four Continents champion. Qualified for 2009 Grand Prix Final, finished 4th. Like Alissa Czisny, she spins clockwise, a relative rarity in figure skating. Two Grand Prix events: Skate America, Trophee Bompard
– Mirai Nagasu (USA): 4th in 2010 Olympics. 7th in 2010 World Championships. U.S. Championships, 2008-2012: 1st, 5th, 2nd, 3rd, 7th. Switched coaches and training bases, moving away from Frank Carroll, to cut down on commute and get a change of scenery. One Grand Prix event: Cup of China
– Alissa Czisny (USA): 2010 Grand Prix Final champion, the last significant win by a U.S. skater. 2009 and 2011 U.S. champion (2nd in 2012, 10th in 2010). 5th in 2011 World Championships. Hindered by calf and hip injuries in the past year. One Grand Prix event: NHK Trophy
– Caroline Zhang (USA): 2007 world junior champion, then 2nd the next two years. U.S. Championships, 2008-2012: 4th, 3rd, 11th, 12th, 4th. Four Continents: 4th in 2009, 3rd in 2010 and 2012. Has a signature move called a pearl spin. Two Grand Prix events: Skate Canada, Rostelecom Cup
– Agnes Zawadzki (USA): 2nd in 2010 World Junior Championships, 3rd in 2011. U.S. Championships, 2011-2012: 4th, 3rd. Two Grand Prix events: Rostelecom Cup, NHK Trophy
– Gracie Gold (USA): 2nd in 2012 World Junior Championships. Two Grand Prix events: Skate Canada, Rostelecom Cup
– Christina Gao (USA): 5th in three straight U.S. Championships. Harvard Class of 2016. Two Grand Prix events: Skate America, Trophee Bompard
– Rachael Flatt (USA): 2010 U.S. champion and Olympian (placed 7th). Successful in other U.S. Championships: 2nd in 2008/09/11, yet only on USA’s C-team. Has had some injury problems and was reprimanded and fined for not disclosing injury before 2011 World Championships. 6th in 2012 U.S. championships. Qualified for 2010 Grand Prix Final, finished 6th. Stanford student. One Grand Prix event: Skate America
– Patrick Chan (Canada): 2011 and 2012 world champion after two years as runner-up. Also two-time defending Grand Prix Final winner. Chinese-Canadian (born in Canada; parents from Hong Kong). Finished 5th in Vancouver. Has posted six of the best scores ever, including the record of 280.98 at the 2011 Worlds.
– Daisuke Takahashi (Japan): 2010 world champion and 2012 runner-up. Also second in Grand Prix Final last year. Three of the top 10 scores of all time.
– Evan Lysacek (USA): Olympic champion – the first U.S. skater to win Olympic gold since Brian Boitano in 1988. Hasn’t skated competitively since then. But he’s back. Also 2009 world champion, 2009 Grand Prix Final winner, 2007 and 2008 U.S. champion (medaled each year from 2005-2010). 4th in 2006 Olympics. Had been entered in Skate America but had to withdraw and might return in a smaller competition.
– Jeremy Abbott (USA): 9th in 2010 Olympics. U.S. champion in 2009, 2010 and 2012 (4th in 2007, 2008, 2011). 5th in 2010 World Championships (8th in 2012). Won 2008 Grand Prix Final. The only U.S. man on the A team, which means he gets full funding. Two Grand Prix events: Skate America, Trophee Bompard
– Johnny Weir (USA): Like Lysacek, making a comeback after a couple of seasons off that included a judging stint on Skating with the Stars. Two-time Olympian (5th in 2006, 6th in 2010). 3rd in 2008 World Championships. Three-time U.S. champion (2004-2006). Two Grand Prix events: Rostelecom Cup, Trophee Bompard
– Adam Rippon (USA): 2008 and 2009 world junior champion, 2010 Four Continents champion, 6th in 2010 Olympics. Best U.S. finish: 2nd in 2012. He can do the Rippon Lutz (watch his arms) and a donut spin. Two Grand Prix events: Cup of China, NHK Trophy
– Yuzuru Hanyu (Japan): 2012 bronze medalist. Did an exhibition skate to a remix of The Doors’ Hello I Love You. Two Grand Prix events: Skate America, NHK Trophy
– Brian Joubert (France): 2007 world champion and frequent world championship medalist, finishing in the top six each year from 2003 onward. Two Grand Prix events: Cup of China, Trophee Bompard
– Takahiko Kozuka (Japan): 2011 runner-up. Two Grand Prix events: Skate America, Rostelecom Cup
– Ross Miner (USA): 3rd in 2011 and 2012 U.S. Championships. 3rd in 2012 Four Continents. Two Grand Prix events: Skate Canada, NHK Trophy
– Richard Dornbush (USA): Big year in 2011: 2nd in U.S. Championships, 9th in Worlds. Two Grand Prix events: Rostelecom Cup, NHK Trophy
– Douglas Razzano (USA): A few years removed from juniors but made Grand Prix debut at last year’s Skate America. Best U.S. Championship: 5th in 2012. One Grand Prix event: Skate America
– Aliana Savchenko/Robin Szolkowy (Germany): World champion in 2012, 2011, 2009 and 2008. World runners-up and Olympic bronze medalists in 2010. Stuck with coach Ingo Steuer while he was under scrutiny for past links to the Stasi. Savchenko formerly competed for Ukraine. Two Grand Prix events: Skate Canada, Trophee Bompard
– Tatiana Volosozhar/Maxim Trankov (Russia): Two-time world runners-up after pairing up in 2010. Until then, Volosozhar competed for Ukraine. Two Grand Prix events: Skate America, Rostelecom Cup
– Caydee Denney/John Coughlin (USA): The only pair on the U.S. A team, returning for second season together. In first season, won U.S. Championships and placed 8th at Worlds. Denney skated at 2010 Olympics (13th) and won 2010 U.S. title with Jeremy Barrett. Coughlin won 2011 U.S. title and skated at 2011 Worlds (6th) with Caitlin Yankowskas. Two Grand Prix events: Skate America, Rostelecom Cup
– Lindsay Davis/Mark Ladwig (USA): New pair, with 20-year-old Davis joining 32-year-old Ladwig. With Amanda Evora, Ladwig was a three-time U.S. medalist and 2010 Olympian (10th). Two Grand Prix events: Skate Canada, NHK Trophy
– Marissa Castelli/Simon Shnapir (USA): 5th in last two U.S. Championships; 3rd in 2009 World Juniors. Short program includes Stray Cat Strut, apparently the Brian Setzer Orchestra version. Two Grand Prix events: Skate America, NHK Trophy
– Tiffany Vise/Don Baldwin (USA): U.S. Championships since 2010: 8th, 6th, 9th. Also 6th at 2011 Skate America. A “mirror pair,” inclined to spin in opposite directions. Two Grand Prix events: Skate Canada, Rostelecom Cup
– Caitlin Yankowskas/Joshua Reagan (USA): New pair. Yankowskas won 2011 U.S. title and skated at 2011 Worlds (6th) with John Coughlin. Reagan took a long break from skating after suffering an eye injury. Two Grand Prix events: Cup of China, NHK Trophy
– Gretchen Donlan/Andrew Speroff (USA): Young pair; 4th in 2012 U.S. Championships. One Grand Prix event: Skate America
– Meryl Davis/Charlie White (USA): Olympic silver medalist. 2011 World champions. 2010-12 Grand Prix Final champions; unbeaten in last two Grand Prix seasons. 2009-12 U.S. champions (4 times). Posted top three scores of all time and six of top 10. Two Grand Prix events: Skate America, NHK Trophy
– Tessa Virtue/Scott Moir (Canada): Olympic and world champion, reclaiming the title from Davis/White last year. Posted four of the top 10 scores of all time. Two Grand Prix events: Skate Canada, Rostelecom Cup
– Madison Hubbell/Zach Donahue (USA): A-team. Second season together. Last year: 3rd in U.S. Championships, 10th in Worlds, 5th in Four Continents, 6th in Skate America. Two Grand Prix events: Skate Canada, Trophee Bompard
– Maia Shibutani/Alex Shibutani (USA): A-team. Sister/brother duo was 2nd in 2009 World Juniors, 4th in 2010 World Juniors, then 3rdd at senior-level 2011 Worlds. Dropped to 8th in 2012. Also two-time U.S. runner-up (2011-12). Won 2011 NHK Trophy. Two Grand Prix events: Rostelecom Cup, NHK Trophy
– Anastasia Cannuscio/Colin McManus (USA): 7th in 2011 World Juniors; 6th in 2012 U.S. Championships. One Grand Prix event: Skate America
– Lynn Kreingkrairut/Logan Giuletti-Schmitt (USA): 4th in 2012 U.S. Championships; best finish to date. Competed in three Grand Prix events, finishing 6th in 2010 Skate America and 2011 NHK Trophy. One Grand Prix event: Skate America
– Madison Chock/Evan Bates (USA): Second season together. Last year: 5th in U.S. Championships, 5th in Trophee Bompard, 4th in Skate Canada. Bates skated in 2010 Olympics (11th) with Emily Samuelson. One Grand Prix event: Cup of China
Year-by-year:
2006 Olympics: Tatiana Navka/Roman Kostomarov (Russia), Tanith Belbin/Ben Agosto (USA), Elena Grushina/Ruslan Goncharov (Ukraine)
The longer I covered the fight to get the event in the Games, the more absurd the opposition seemed. The Olympics are supposed to be committed to gender equity. If men compete in the Games and women compete in other competitions, the women also should compete in the Games.
The IOC and others raised faulty comparisons to events that weren’t in the Games, failing to notice that these were separate sports. Agree or disagree with the inclusion of golf or exclusion of karate, but the IOC is within its rights to choose its sports. To let one gender compete when the other is perfectly capable of competing as well is — and always was — sheer nonsense.
In other gender equity news, the IOC approved biathlon’s mixed relay, which should be a terrific event. The other decisions on “team events” seem random — why luge and figure skating, but not Alpine skiing?
Most fans might wish slopestyle, for both snowboarders and freestyle skiers, had made the cut ahead of ski halfpipe. But the IOC has some logic behind that decision. Sochi is already building a halfpipe for snowboarding competition. Slopestyle would require a new course.
Not the case for women’s ski jumping. The facility will be there. The excuses are not. Better late than never.
Time for another Midweek Myriad, also known as “stuff that happened while I was at Disney World.” I’ve saved the most serious item for the end, which is either “building suspense” or “burying the lead.”
SOCCER: Americans move at transfer deadline, with only 1 of 4 going in the “right” direction
U.S. fans longing for more Americans to succeed in Europe are thrilled that Michael Bradley is leaving Bundesliga bottom-dweller Borussia Moenchengladbach on loan to mid-table Premier League club Aston Villa, though playing time is far from assured.
More worrisome are the players making what ambitious folks would consider something less than a “lateral” move. At ESPN, Jeff Carlisle worries that Jozy Altidore and Eddie Johnson are following the same career path of loans without upward progress. Carlisle doesn’t even mention Freddy Adu, who is mentioned in a similarly downcast piece by Soccer America‘s Paul Kennedy.
Altidore’s move isn’t bad, really. He’s not seeing time at Villarreal, and he gets to hop into a title race in Turkey with Bursaspor. The snag is that the club also signed Scottish striker Kenny Miller.
Johnson is a few years older and settling into Championship-level soccer. Nothing really wrong with that, and no one’s looking to him as the future at forward for the U.S. national team these days. He’s on loan from Fulham to Preston North End trying to save the club from relegation.
The stunner is Freddy Adu, who quietly went on loan to Rizespor in Turkey’s second division. Even Adu’s harshest critics would’ve had a hard time predicting that he’d be so low on the European club ladder at age 21. I’d say Freddy has to set the Turkish second division on fire to put his career back on track, but in Turkey, the fans usually set the fires.
What’s strange is that no one can really tell us why Adu’s career has taken such turns in the past couple of years. For a while, his European misadventures were easily explained — he couldn’t break into the lineup at Benfica, and he was in a terrible situation in Monaco with an American-education club chairman who brought him in without seeing if the coaching staff had any interest. But we don’t know why Greece’s Aris lost interest in him or why he couldn’t latch on anywhere else in this transfer window.
And this just in (HT to Grant Wahl): Robbie Findley, newly transferred to Nottingham Forest, may be out three months.
SOCCER: NASL, fans damn the torpedoes
The NASL is undaunted (see Brian Straus story) over an initial rejection of second-division sanctioning and the need to start a Carolina team from scratch after previous owner Selby Wellman, a leading figure in the NASL breakaway, was unable to find a a supplemental or replacement investor. The RailHawks trademark sold on eBay for $14,999.
NASL fans also are undaunted, releasing a letter to U.S. Soccer complaining about the lack of D2 status. Kenn Tomasch calmly shredded the letter, mostly by reminding NASL fans that you have to play a few seasons, or at least a few games, before boldly proclaiming yourself a model of stability.
TRACK AND FIELD: Millrose Games surprises
– Ethiopia’s Deresse Mekonnen ended Bernard Lagat’s domination of the mile.
– Jamaican sprinters were a step ahead of the Americans in the men’s and women’s 60.
– The USA shot put train keeps rolling: Youngster Ryan Whiting upset Christian Cantwell, Reese Hoffa and Adam Nelson.
Recaps from the New York Times and Universal Sports, plus full results. (Big round of applause for the Millrose site for putting its results on one easy-to-read page rather than making us click for every event. Take note, track and swimming organizers.)
In less entertaining indoor track and field, some U.S. athletes went overseas after sleeping on the floor at JFK and lost to other international “teams” at the Aviva International in Glasgow. The biggest upset was a repeat from last year, with Britain’s Jessica Ennis beating Lolo Jones in the 60-meter hurdles.
MORE MYRIAD HEADLINES
– Winter X Games: Shaun White, Lindsey Jacobellis and Kelly Clark are still really, really good at snowboarding. The only surprise in that trio: Clark landed a 1080. Nick Baumgartner upset Seth Holland in the men’s snowboardcross.
– Soccer: Ridge Mahoney points to a major issue that could derail the Cosmos-to-MLS train: the league’s lucrative adidas deal. (Update: Grant Wahl, who has done the most extensive interview on the Cosmos to date, says the club has prepared to go adidas if it gets into MLS. Ridge’s piece is still worth reading as a reminder of how much power adidas wields.
– Handball: Olympic champion France keeps rolling, winning another men’s world title with an extra-time win over Denmark. Spain edged host Sweden for third, and Croatia beat my buddies from Iceland for fifth. All close games in the world championship of the sport that have the highest popularity-to-English-language-coverage ratio in the world. (AP)
– Figure skating: The highlight of the U.S. Championships in my beloved former hometown of Greensboro was Alissa Czisny’s remarkable comeback from afterthought status to win a battle of three former national champions. Christine Brennan, who has stuck with the sport through thick and thin, has the analysis.
– Ski jumping: Not sure what to make of the fact that Sarah Hendrickson has been at the forefront of a strong U.S. showing in international competition this year but managed only 18th in the World Junior Championships.
– Luge: No stunning world championship for the USA’s Erin Hamlin this year. She finished 14th. (AP)
– Cyclo-cross: Katie Compton took second in the World Championships. Holding this event in cold mud just seems especially cruel.
– Wrestling: Olympic champion turned Biggest Loser competitor Rulon Gardner is still hawking a 1 1/2-pound sandwich and challenging people to eat it with fries and a massive drink in 20 minutes. Maybe Rulon’s hoping to match legendary competitive eater Takeru Kobayashi, who is still skinny. (AP)
Last and not least …
At BigSoccer, Bill Archer has annoyed a lot of Canadian fans, and they have the prerogative not to be Bill’s buddies.
But aside from my own “Bill’s a good guy once you get to know him” story, I can say this — if you care about the sport, you should be reading Bill’s blog. I’ve yet to see anyone else in the Americas, from basement bloggers to professional journalists, do as much work in compiling disparate reports on the issues of FIFA, CONCACAF and other international soccer bodies. I would say to my fellow journalists — Bill is doing what we should be doing.
This piece on the utter travesty of Qatar’s Asian Cup final is a prime example.
If someone can offer valid reasons why organizers locked the gates before kickoff, separated families and brought out the riot police, fine. Let’s hear from them. But let’s not act as if this isn’t news.
We the American soccer media/blogosphere shouldn’t be moving on so quickly from FIFA’s extraordinary World Cup decisions to an exclusive focus on the MLS preseason or slobbering all over the latest EPL transfers. My challenge to all of us: Keep watching FIFA and Qatar. If Qatar is an absolutely unsuitable host for the Cup and FIFA is an unsuitable guardian for the game, these things can be and must be changed. Silence won’t get it done. If Al Jazeera can talk, so can we.
One of the joys of following a hundred sports or so is that you’re not stuck dissecting the Super Bowl to the point that it becomes joyless. Instead, we have all this:
– Marta signs with Western New York. A WPS shocker. Good news from a media point of view because it means more of us will be paying attention to veteran Rochester reporter Jeff DiVeronica, who jokes on Twitter that Marta will push him up to 1,000 followers.
The conventional wisdom would be that Marta would sign with The Club Formerly And Still Partially Known As The Washington Freedom But Also With Magic Jack In The Name (TCFASPKATWFBAWMJITN) so that Dan Borislow would have a marquee player to market in South Florida and perhaps somewhere in Washington once the team hires marketing and sales staffs and finds venues in which to play. Instead, Borislow has given us the best WPS smack talk in the league’s brief history, via Our Game: “This came as a total surprise. I am glad she will be playing in the league. She will discover we are the team to beat, so I hope she is at the top of her game when she plays us.”
For all the talk in MLS about “Rivalry Week,” maybe we should be circling the calendar for TCFASPKATWFBAWMJITN’s visit to Rochester.
– Nadal loses. And it’s a pity. Tennis could use a Grand Slam charge from the charismatic, humble Spaniard, but an injury has derailed his Australian Open campaign. Nadal didn’t want to use the injury as an excuse, but he wasn’t fooling opponent David Ferrer. Class acts all around. (NYT)
– Winter X Games time. And the NYT notes that several more X sports may be joining the Winter Olympic program. No word on women’s ski jumping, though that sport has a better-defined set of rules and so forth.
The Summer Olympics might be too big. The Winter Olympics aren’t, and it’s hard to begrudge slopestyle its place. But if the IOC adds the X sports without women’s ski jumping, the excuses will ring hollow.
– Handball heaven. It’s only $20 away. At least the highlights are free, so I was able to scout semifinalist France in their win over my buddies from Iceland in a rematch of the 2008 Olympic final. (Dan Steinberg also enjoyed covering that team in Beijing and linked to my highest-read blog post ever.)
Iceland plays Croatia for fifth place on Friday. The semifinals the same day: France-Sweden, Denmark-Spain.
– Also this weekend:
Cyclocross World Championships. The muddier, the better.
U.S. Figure Skating Championships, in my former hometown of Greensboro.
Luge World Championships. U.S. sliders not having a particularly good year.
Paralympic Athletics World Championships.
Millrose Games.
Strikeforce: Middleweight and welterweight title fights, plus Herschel Walker.
Final weekend of Tata Steel chess classic, where U.S. player Hikaru Nakamura shares the lead in an elite group.
Duresport.com 