Figure Skating: The Thril of Victory: Part Two

In case you are wondering, the photo is of French skater, Florent Amodio who recently won the European Championship. He won the title on the strength of his short program, so that is the program I am going to link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLR9tjqAr2E

This is either Italian or Spanish television, no subtitles this time.

The silver medalist was another French skater, Brian Joubert, who actually won the freeskate. Joubert is trying new music this year, Beethoven.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXOvsH5bkwk

The bronze medalist was Thomas Verner of the Czech Republic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHw-9qh5JVU


Now, on to U.S. Nationals. The favorites coming in, Jeremy Abbott and Adam Rippon are better covered on the agony of defeat side, so I will write about them later. There were several very good stories to come out of U.S. Nationals though.

With the veterans faltering, the next generation of skaters really stepped up. The first one (shown on NBC) was Richard Dornbush, who is the current Jr. Grand Prix champion. His program was my favorite of the ones shown on NBC.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fNyIvU_rdM

(Also, if you watch the video, you will hear that Adam Rippon skated an outstanding program, his freeskate was outstanding. However his short program was not)

The next skater, I wish to highlight is Ross Miner. I was quite surprised by how much I liked this program. I had watched a video of it from a summer competition, and had not liked the program at all. But in late January, I loved it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRlYRHPinWw


Familiar music, huh? :)


The night belonged to one of the veterans though, Ryan Bradley. Last year, he was fourth at Nationals, therefore missing out on the Olympics, and had decided not to compete anymore. After a twitter campaign from his fans, he decided to compete at Nationals. I'm posting both his short programs and free skates.

SP: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSgRw_HZXvw&feature=fvst

FS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLR0kIoHxis

The skate of the night though, didn't come from a medalist, or a well know skater. It was from a 16 year old, competing in his first senior nationals. Enjoy the freeskate of Jason Brown, and I think his is a name you should remember in the future.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFVz7WJgkK0

Figure Skating: The Thrill of Victory Part One

This past weekend, for me, was spent watching figure skating. Saturday was an especially full day, as both the European Championships and the U.S. National Championships were occurring at the same time.

I will begin with the Ladies Free Skate at Europeans. This year, the Europeans were held in Bern Switzerland, and I wish to highlight one skater, Switzerland's Sarah Meier. If you watched the 2002 Olympics and the 2006 Olympics, you likely have watched her before. She did not compete in Vancouver, due to injury. This was to be her last competition. The was the final skater to take the ice, and delivered a very emotional performance. Since I'm posting a link, I'm sure you can figure out what happened.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfWrARyEOOw

The video is from Finnish TV, and there are English subtitles. Just click the cc at the bottom to bring them up.

Saturday night was the Ladies Free Skate at the U.S. Nationals. No skater has one more than one championship since Michelle Kwan. On Saturday night, there were three ladies with the chance to break that, Alissa Cziny, Rachael Flatt, and Mirai Nagasu.

I will post links to all three short programs.

Rachael Flatt: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87Ib6INSEzY
Alissa Czisny: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McGIK4AlG2o
Mirai Nagasu: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3ODzdB4_6E


Free skates:
Alissa Czisny: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfBkr9ioSCE
Rachael Flatt: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b53RWYRUvg8&feature=related
Mirai Nagasu: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ulektq3x-WI&feature=related

I plan to post more on the men's , etc. later.