This past weekend I watched the U.S. Firgure Skating National Championships. Normally the TOP 2 or 3 will automatically be our representatives to the World Championships in March 2011. I watched Dance, the Ladies, and some of the Men skate their hearts out.
DANCE
I have to say Dance has truly improved in this country within the last 10 years. This is mainly due to the fact that Russian coaches wanting to make more money and live a better life came to U.S. and taught N. American's the Russian way. Everyone knew it was David/White's title to lose and they walked away with the crown without much of a challenge.
1. Meryl Davis & Charlie White
2. Maia & Alex Shibutani
3. Madison Chock & Greg Zuerlein
LADIES
The Ladies were all so different not just in age, but in ability, flexibility, and personality. The TOP 3 really were tied going into the long program so anyone of them could've won. What it really came down to (to me) was the maturity of Alissa Czisny compared to the other 2 (Rachael Flatt & Mirai Nagasu). Although Mirai is catching up, Alissa has some 6 years of experience on her and 5 years on Rachael. While Alissa was pretty and did a mostly clean program, the program was pretty flat. Rachael & Mirai made more mistakes, but one bored me to tears and the other just shocked me with her sketchy performance. The bad part about all this is that only 2 Ladies (Alissa & Rachael) are going to World's mainly due to Alissa's collapse in 2009 at Worlds. Because of all this, Mirai in unable to go to World's in Japan and she is the one with the fire power that can compete with the Asian girls. The real shock of the night went to Caroline Zhang. I couldn't believe it was her skating. She is such a beautiful, artistic skater; however, puberty has not been kind to her.
1. Alissa Czisny
2. Rachael Flatt
3. Mirai Nagasu
MEN
I was kind of dreading watching the guys. Didn't know what to expect with Evan Lysacek & Johnny Weir sitting out. I knew Ryan Bradley and Jeremy Abbott would be there, so it wouldn't be a total bust. As I was watching, one thought wouldn't leave my mind...WTH. Until Ross Miner skated, it really was a mess. WOW what an entrance, welcome to Senior Nationals Ross Miner. I loved his skate. He had personality and most important he skated clean. The difficulty wasn't there, but I didn't care. The guy that placed 2nd was Richard Dornbush and right now I can't remember anything about him except he skated clean. On this night, that was the most important piece of the puzzle....skate clean. Although Dornbush and Miner placing 2 & 3 was a surprise, the biggest shock of the night had to be the mistake prone program of Jeremy Abbott.
1. Ryan Bradley
2. Richard Dornbush
3. Ross Miner
4. Jeremy Abbott
PAIRS
Wish I could say I watched any of the Pairs, but I didn't. In the last few years, there had been some nice looking Pairs that could've done some damage on the World scene. After the season last year, those nice looking Pairs broke up and Pairs again are not very deep. Don't know what it is, but Pairs just don't stick together long enough to get good.
1. Caitlin Yankowskas & John Coughlin
2. Amanda Evora & Mark Ladwig
3. Caydee Denney & Jeremy Barrett
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