Eric Radford thought he needed a Plan B. So did Vanessa James. So they hitched their plans together, rather organically. It just sort of happened. But they didn’t expect that the announcement of their new pair partnership with 10 months to go before the Beijing Olympics would be met with such snarling reaction. Hurt feelings […]
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Gilles and Poirier: At Last
Sweet dreams are made of these. In ice dancing on Saturday, it was everything that led up to the bronze medal – only .36 points away from a silver – won by Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier at the world figure skating championships. Although they won the bronze medal, they finished second in the free […]
Nathan Chen’s Epic Adventure
Nathan Chen is ever thus: calmer than a pool. And focused like a laser beam, although he doesn’t look it. He won his third consecutive world title with explosive point totals on Saturday. He had come to Stockholm, grateful to be there. He had shaken off his woolly lockdown curls, shrugged off a hiccup in […]
The Empress Does What Empresses Do
There were the teenyboppers. And then there was the Empress. Together, they tell the story of what you will see in the women’s event at the Olympics in Beijing next year: quads, triple Axels and youth – except for that upstart Empress. The Empress is Elizaveta Tuktamysheva of Russia, who hadn’t even made it out […]
Pairs Short Program: Getting the Rust Out
Hold a world championship for the first time in two years, during a pandemic (with rising numbers in many places), with all sorts of training interruptions and stay-at-home orders and what could go wrong? It all came to roost in the pairs short program Wednesday at the world figure skating championships in Stockholm. Is […]
Jitters Hit Women in World Short Program
Jitters ruled the day. So many women had not skated in such a long time, and here they were at the world figure skating championships in Stockholm that some weren’t sure would happen at all. None of it went as scripted, except that Anna Shcherbakova ended up in the lead with a healthy 81.00 points […]
Gilles and Poirier: on a Quest for the Sun
“Now they only block the sun. They rain and snow on everyone. So many things I would have done, But clouds got in my way.” Indeed. Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier will skate to these Joni Mitchell words next week at the world figure skating championships in Stockholm, Sweden. No doubt, for them […]
Keegan Messing: Of Chainsaws and Car Batteries
It’s true, these are different times, but nobody on the planet prepares for a world figure skating championship the way Keegan Messing does. Nobody. The rope-climbing, ladder-ascending, pole-clinging, Lazy Boy-toting, Husky-loving, old car-tinkerer and iceberg paddler of a mountain man from Alaska had to resort to new tricks during a pandemic. The gym was […]
Moore-Towers, Marinaro Head into the Unknown
Canadian pair champions Kirsten Moore-Towers and Michael Marinaro did not believe there would be a world figure skating championship this season, so hunkered down were they because of a pandemic that doesn’t quit. They thought their virtual performances earlier this year at Skate Canada Challenge were going to be it this season, and everybody […]
Circelli takes the high road
In the grey of winter, and the stillness of days, Corey Circelli was on watch: for his costumes. They didn’t come in time for the videotaping of his routines for the Skate Canada Challenge. They were to be the icing on the cake of all he had done during a pandemic. In fact, they […]