“What the hell?” said she, who had just accomplished the impossible. Seconds before Alysa Liu finished her MacArthur Park free program at the world figure skating championships, the crowd of more than 19,000 in the TD Centre in Boston, stood up as one, screaming for her. They broke the sound barrier. “What the hell?” Liu […]
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Surfing through the Rhythm Dance
Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier surfed their way to a second-place finish in the rhythm dance at the world figure skating championships in Boston on Friday. Music from The Beach Boys and a casual band of 15-year-olds called the Surfaris led Gilles and Poirier to a score of 86.44, which was 1.93 short of their […]
A Whiter Shade of Pale
You could say that Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier have long skipped the light fandango, turned cartwheels across the floor, and have seen so many ceilings flying away in their career. But not until this season have they lived it in song, skating to “A Whiter Shade of Pale” as their enchanting free […]
Amber Glenn, Getting the Hang of It.
The U.S. championship this week served as a test of all tests for Amber Glenn. Her career had never rolled like syrup over a pancake. Her tears and her anguish welled up at every turn, heart as brittle as yesterday’s crackers. She skated hopefully in the dim corners, weighed down by everything. Then she won […]
Malinin in Pursuit of Art
He calls himself Quad God but he wants to be –and needs to be – much more. Ilia Malinin, this maharajah of mad floaty magic, will lay all of it on display at the US Figure Skating Championships this week, feeling “very Shakespearean,” he says. “In my opinion, skating is an art, and everyone has […]
The Ice Nightmare Saga
By Beverley Smith Jan. 4, 2000 The Globe and Mail “Okay,” said the skater, adorned in green garbage bags, felt cap, and red Naugahyde boot covers scrounged from a storage bin. “Let’s do the schlameezle schmozzle.” With this suggestion, the secret practice began for Ice Nightmare, a team of grinning male figure skaters who […]
“Send In the Clowns”: Patrick Chan Farewell
I like to watch Patrick Chan skate for the same reason I like to watch Audrey Hepburn act, or Lang Lang play classical piano or Mikhail Baryshnikov dance, or a craggy hill in Scotland beckon, all misty and verdant. Chan’s presence on the ice is one of life’s little pleasures: that slip and slide of […]
Gilles and Poirier: Ascending to Silver
MONTREAL The long road to the top in ice dancing is taken in long, agonizing inches. Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier, bronze medalists last year for the second time, stepped up the podium to a silver medal this time, at home, in front of a wildly cheering crowd. They finished their intriguing “Wuthering Heights” routine […]
Ilia Malinin: A Win for the Ages
MONTREAL There was a moment in his free skate on a snowy night in Montreal when Ilia Malinin knew, despite everything weighing on his mind over the past couple of weeks, that “it was my time.” Time for him to deliver an explosive routine the likes few had ever seen. Time to put illness, and […]
Rhythm Dance
MONTREAL Ice dance. Growl. Navigating all of its ins and outs and chilly winds is the stuff of a champion. The safe thing: defending world dance champions Madison Chock and Evan Bates, skating to Queen, of all important things, sit in first place with GOEs as high as an elephant’s eye. Their bonus points for […]