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 […]
world figure skating championships
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 […]
World Figure Skating Championships: Cancelled
At last, the hammer came down. There will be no world figure skating championships this year, for the first time in 59 years when a plane crash killed the U.S. team and scuttled the most important event of the year. The Quebec health ministry decided to spare spectators and competitors and officials and […]
Inside the heart of Moore-Towers and Marinaro
It was telling: Kirsten Moore-Towers burst into an ugly cry against the chest of her partner, Michael Marinaro, as soon as they took their final pose after the short program at the world championships in Milan on Wednesday. Surely they were tears of joy? They had just nailed it, big time: triple twist, whopper of […]