Now all our favorite skaters (from left, ice dance team Tanith Belbin & Ben Agosto, Evan Lysacek, Ryan Bradley and Alissa Czisny) have won at least National title! Here is Simone's take from her blog:
Other than the absence of Evan Lysacek (who was sadly missed by me) a pretty exciting US Championships. In all four disciplines, the skater (or couple) I was cheering for won.
Here’s my take on the event:
MEN:
My second favorite male skater (and the second hottest skater) of all time, Ryan Bradley, won the gold! I was so excited….. when his numbers came up, I started screaming and jumping around. He’s almost as good and cute as Evan! I really hope he gets to do Stars On Ice this year. His short program was BREATHTAKING. He made a few small mistakes at the beginning of his free skate, but in my mind there was no doubt he deserved the gold. I know he’ll represent the USA well at World Championships in March.
The silver medalist, Richard Dornbush, and the bronze medalist, Ross Miner, were both very young and impressive. I’d never seen either of them before, but I think they’re both good hopes for US Men’s Figure Skating. The thing is though, since they were top three, they made the world team, and I don’t know how high they’ll place at Worlds and that could lose the US spots at Worlds in 2012 (see next paragraph).
Last year’s champion, Jeremy Abbott, was in second after the short program, but fell to fourth in the free skate. Another young rising star, Adam Rippon, had a disastrous short program and a great free skate, but only managed to move up to fifth overall. I thought that with Evan out of the mix, Ryan, Jeremy and Adam would be the strongest world team for the USA. Even though Jeremy and Adam were fourth and fifth, I was thinking at least one of them would get a place on the world team. We’ll have to see what happens. In the mean time though, congrats again to Ryan on his win! I’m so happy he finally got it!
LADIES:
Again, one of my favorite skaters won, this time Alissa Czisny. I met her at Stars On Ice last spring and she was really sweet. In the past she’s had problems with consistency, but she was really great here. She’s a really artistic skater and her jumps are getting better and better. I think that coaching change was just what she needed.
Rachael Flatt, who was second, had a great skate, much better than usual, she’s really becoming more graceful. Mirai Nagasu, who was third, is getting better, but she hasn’t quite grown on me yet. The girl who was fourth, Agnes Zawadzski (IDK if I spelled her last name right), is really good except for one fall. I can see her becoming a great skater in the future. One of the other girls I really like, Ashley Wagner, had a rough competition. Lots of the others I like (Sasha Cohen, Emily Hughes, Jenny Kirk, Kimmie Meissner, etc.) have been gone a while.
PAIRS:
Never really been a fan of Pairs, but I LOVED the team who won yesterday, Caitlin Yankowskas and John Coughlin. They skated a really beautiful program to “Ave Maria” in memory of his mother who died last year. It was really great and emotinal. I think they WILL become a force to be reckoned with in international skating.
The winning team was the only one I really liked. I thought bronze medalists Caydee Denney and Jeremy Barrett should have beaten silver medalists Amanda Evora and Mark Ladwig but the short program counts for something. And I also thought fourth place finishers Mary Beth Marley and Rockne Brubaker have potential (and he’s cute).
DANCE:
I definitely missed my all-time favorite dance team, Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto, who retired after the Olympics last year. I met Tanith and Ben at SOI last year and they were super nice. The team who won this year though, Meryl Davis and Charlie White, are easily the best ice dancing team around these days. The title was theirs before the competition began, but they were doing a great job and they always have great music.
You always get a peek in the future the year after the Olympics, and I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for Maia and Alex Shibutani, the silver medalists. I can just tell they’ll be the next great US Dance Team. I liked the fourth place finishers, Madison and Keifer Hubbell, a lot as well. The bronze medalists, Madison Chock and Greg Zuherlin, had hideous outfits but their skating wasn’t bad.
Here’s my take on the event:
MEN:
My second favorite male skater (and the second hottest skater) of all time, Ryan Bradley, won the gold! I was so excited….. when his numbers came up, I started screaming and jumping around. He’s almost as good and cute as Evan! I really hope he gets to do Stars On Ice this year. His short program was BREATHTAKING. He made a few small mistakes at the beginning of his free skate, but in my mind there was no doubt he deserved the gold. I know he’ll represent the USA well at World Championships in March.
The silver medalist, Richard Dornbush, and the bronze medalist, Ross Miner, were both very young and impressive. I’d never seen either of them before, but I think they’re both good hopes for US Men’s Figure Skating. The thing is though, since they were top three, they made the world team, and I don’t know how high they’ll place at Worlds and that could lose the US spots at Worlds in 2012 (see next paragraph).
Last year’s champion, Jeremy Abbott, was in second after the short program, but fell to fourth in the free skate. Another young rising star, Adam Rippon, had a disastrous short program and a great free skate, but only managed to move up to fifth overall. I thought that with Evan out of the mix, Ryan, Jeremy and Adam would be the strongest world team for the USA. Even though Jeremy and Adam were fourth and fifth, I was thinking at least one of them would get a place on the world team. We’ll have to see what happens. In the mean time though, congrats again to Ryan on his win! I’m so happy he finally got it!
LADIES:
Again, one of my favorite skaters won, this time Alissa Czisny. I met her at Stars On Ice last spring and she was really sweet. In the past she’s had problems with consistency, but she was really great here. She’s a really artistic skater and her jumps are getting better and better. I think that coaching change was just what she needed.
Rachael Flatt, who was second, had a great skate, much better than usual, she’s really becoming more graceful. Mirai Nagasu, who was third, is getting better, but she hasn’t quite grown on me yet. The girl who was fourth, Agnes Zawadzski (IDK if I spelled her last name right), is really good except for one fall. I can see her becoming a great skater in the future. One of the other girls I really like, Ashley Wagner, had a rough competition. Lots of the others I like (Sasha Cohen, Emily Hughes, Jenny Kirk, Kimmie Meissner, etc.) have been gone a while.
PAIRS:
Never really been a fan of Pairs, but I LOVED the team who won yesterday, Caitlin Yankowskas and John Coughlin. They skated a really beautiful program to “Ave Maria” in memory of his mother who died last year. It was really great and emotinal. I think they WILL become a force to be reckoned with in international skating.
The winning team was the only one I really liked. I thought bronze medalists Caydee Denney and Jeremy Barrett should have beaten silver medalists Amanda Evora and Mark Ladwig but the short program counts for something. And I also thought fourth place finishers Mary Beth Marley and Rockne Brubaker have potential (and he’s cute).
DANCE:
I definitely missed my all-time favorite dance team, Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto, who retired after the Olympics last year. I met Tanith and Ben at SOI last year and they were super nice. The team who won this year though, Meryl Davis and Charlie White, are easily the best ice dancing team around these days. The title was theirs before the competition began, but they were doing a great job and they always have great music.
You always get a peek in the future the year after the Olympics, and I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for Maia and Alex Shibutani, the silver medalists. I can just tell they’ll be the next great US Dance Team. I liked the fourth place finishers, Madison and Keifer Hubbell, a lot as well. The bronze medalists, Madison Chock and Greg Zuherlin, had hideous outfits but their skating wasn’t bad.
I really liked this post! Meline and i watched the women's the other night, and i enjoyed all the preformances.
ReplyDelete~Mia~