Mexico’s Contreras Moves to Marlborough

Mexico’s Humberto Contreras, 21, is looking forward to the 2004-2005 figure skating season and a chance to make it to Torino for the 2006 Olympic Games. “I want to have all my triples and my triple-triple combinations consistently,” Contreras said. “I want to win Senior Nationals for the third time and hopefully go to 2005 Senior Worlds and get a spot at the 2006 Olympics.” Contreras has yet to compete at either Worlds or the Olympics, although he finished 19th at the Four Continents Championships in 2004, up from 21st in 2003. Contreras, who won the Mexican senior title in 2002 and 2003, began this season with a fourth place finish at the Boston Open.

Watching the 1994 Olympics on television was…

Juvenile Champs Want Intermediate Gold

The 2004 U.S. juvenile ice dance champions, Ilana Morse and Jackson Raney, moved up to intermediates this year, hoping to take another gold. “We want to win intermediate now,” Morse said. “I want to compete as long as I can. I want to skate forever.” They began their season by finishing third overall in the compulsory dances and sixth in the free dance at the Lake Placid Ice Dance Championships in August.

Morse, now 14, said she began skating when she was five because she had seen skating on television. “I first started ice dancing when I was nine,” she continued, “When I tried it I liked it better than freestyle.” Raney, who is now 12, started skating when he was…

Jersey Girl and Partner Hope to Represent Lithuania in Olympics

Lithuania’s reigning ice dancing champions are Clover Zatzman and Aurimas Radisauskas, who won their first title in 2003. Zatzman, 22, is originally from Rutherford, New Jersey while Radisauskas was born in Kaunas, Lithuania. The couple finished 22nd at the 2004 European Championships and 29th at Worlds. Now they are hoping to qualify for the 2006 Olympic Games in Torino Italy. That’s a dream that Zatzman has followed since she watched the Olympics on television in 1992.

Neither of the skaters came from a skating family, although Zatzman’s grandfather was a speed skater. She began skating when she was ten. “I passed Rockefeller Center in New York City as a young child with my parents,” she explained. “I saw dozens of skaters gliding over the ice below…

Duhamel To Compete in Pairs at Belgrade Sparrow

Canada’s Meagan Duhamel upset 2004 world junior silver medallist Kimberly Meissner of the United States to win the ladies event at the season’s first Junior Grand Prix in Courchevel, France in August. “My win in Courchevel was a total surprise,” Duhamel exclaimed. “I had been training really well but I never expected first place. Both of my skates were clean. My long has six triples so I thought maybe if I skated that well I might be able to come third at the best, not first.” Even more remarkable was the fact that Duhamel wasn’t able to fully practice in Courchevel because her luggage with her skates arrived only the night before the short…

Twins Hope to Revive British Ice Dancing

Candice (Candi) and Phillipa (Pippa) Towler-Green, both 20, hope to renew British interest in ice dancing that has been on the wane since the retirement of Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean. They are the twin daughters of Diane Towler-Green, ice-dancing champion at Europeans and Worlds from 1966 to 1969 with Bernard Ford. The sisters finished fifth and fourth at the British Championships in December 2003: Candi with long-time partner James Phillipson and Pippa with new partner, Phillip Poole.

The twins and their partners hope to compete for many years. “Our main goals are to become British Champion and compete in Europeans and Worlds,” Pippa stated, with Poole’s agreement. “We would like to place as high as we possibly could.” “I just want to do as well as I possibly can,” Candice stated. “The way I see it is…

2004 Skate Long Beach: Ladies Highlights

Japan’s Mao Asada was the gold medal winner in the Ladies event, while USA’s Kimberly (Kimmie) Meissner won her second consecutive silver in the JGP series. Teammate Danielle Kahle won the bronze in what is slated to be her only JGP event of the season before the JGP final.

Skating to music from The Wizard of Oz, Asada attempted a triple Lutz/double loop combination but stumbled out of the loop. The 13-year-old went on to land a double Axel, a flying camel spin, a triple loop out of footwork, and a combination Biellmann spin, earning a TSS of 50.14 for a first place finish after the short.

Meissner also had problems with her triple Lutz combination, falling out the landing of the Lutz before doing a turn into the double toeloop. While the program had some good flow with nice spins and a double Axel, the 2004 World Junior silver medalist had problems on the triple loop which was scored as…

2004 Skate Long Beach: Ice Dance Highlights

USA’s Morgan Matthews and Maxim Zavozin won their second consecutive JGP event – their first was in Courchevel, France last month. Siobhan Karam and Joshua McGrath of Canada won the silver, while Russia’s Anastasia Gorshkova and Ilia Tkachenko won the bronze.

The Compulsory Dance (CD) for this event was the Argentine Tango. It was invented by Reginald J. Wilkie and Daphne B. Wallis and first performed in 1934 at the Westminster Ice Rink in London, England.

Matthews and Zavozin were ahead after the CD with a TSS of 37.15. Canada’s Mylène Lamoureux and Michael Mee had the second spot with 32.55 points. Close behind in third were Karam and McGrath with 32.26 points and in fourth, while Gorshkova and Tkachenko were in fourth with 31.99.

The event continued with the Original Dance (OD), where the couples can choose any two or three of the following rhythms: Slow Foxtrot, Quickstep, and Charleston.

Matthews and Zavozin opened their dance with a Charleston rhythm which had…

2004 Skate Long Beach: Men’s Highlights

USA’s Dennis Phan was the winner of the gold medal in the men’s discipline, while teammate Princeton Kwong picked up the bronze. Christopher Mabee of Canada won the silver, trailing Phan by only 2.1 points.

When Phan took to the ice, the crowd clapped and yelled “Happy Birthday” while waiting for Naoto Saito’s (JPN) marks to be announced. Skating to dramatic music from the soundtrack of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Phan opened with a solid triple Lutz/triple toeloop combination. He managed to hang onto the landing of the double Axel which had a lean in the air but then encountered problems with his flying camel spin which he corrected. Phan then landed a triple loop out of traveling 3-turns followed by a change foot sit spin, good circular footwork, and a nice combination spin with changes of foot and position. The 19-year-old was awarded a TSS of 60.67 for a first place finish after the short.

Mabee, who was first to…