Aspen’s Abbott Aspires to Worlds Podium

Colorado’s Jeremy Abbott has aspirations for this season as high as the state’s famous Rocky Mountains. After narrowly missing the World team last season, the Aspen native scored an impressive bronze medal at the 2007 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships which were held in his training town of Colorado Springs. This season, his goal is to medal at the World Championships in Göteborg, Sweden.

It was his second high finish at U.S. Nationals in three years when Abbott won the pewter medal for fourth place in senior men in 2007. In 2005, Abbott won the gold in junior men, his first time on the podium nationally. Before that, he finished seventh in juniors in 2004, sixth in novice in 2002, sixth in intermediates in 2000, and ninth in juvenile…

Takeda Sticks to Seniors for 2007-08 Season

Tokyo’s Nana Takeda is a veteran of Japanese Nationals, having competed there seven times as a junior and three as a senior. In 2007, she placed first in juniors and seventh in seniors.

In 2006, Takeda won her first Junior Grand Prix (JGP) event in Romania (Miercurea Ciuc) and placed second at the JGP Chinese Taipei Cup. She was fifth overall at the JGP Final in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Takeda, who just missed the podium at the 2006 World Juniors Figure Skating Championships with a fourth place finish, did not do as well in 2007, placing ninth overall.

For the 2007-08 season, however, the student from Chiba plans to stick with the seniors.

She began with a silver medal at the Tokyo Figure Skating Championships, then finished sixth in her debut on the…

Lambiel edges out Takahashi for gold in Torino

Stephane Lambiel of Switzerland narrowly won the Men’s event after narrowly edging out Daisuke Takahashi of Japan. USA’s Evan Lysacek maintained third overall to earn the bronze.

Lambiel had a rough start in his Flamenco routine when he stepped out of a triple Axel and then put his hand down on a quadruple toeloop, but recovered to land six more strong triple jumps. The 2006 Olympic silver medalist also impressed with excellent spins and footwork, and placed first in the long with 155.30 (76.20/79.10) points.

“My program is very strategic,” Lambiel later explained. “It is very complicated and difficult with the triple Axel and the quad. I think what made the difference today was the spirit of the Flamenco program that I had.”

With a total score of 239.10 points, the Swiss champion overcame Takahashi by just 0.16 points to win the gold.

“This comes as a big surprise to me, said the 22-year-old. “The competition was wide open, and it’s a competition…

Domnina and Shabalin capture Grand Prix Final title

Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin of Russia rose from third to first place overall to capture the gold, while USA’s Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto and France’s Isabelle Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder slipped to second and third place overall, respectively.

Domnina and Shabalin earned a new personal best of 103.26 (53.50/49.76) points for their commanding performance to Waltz from Masquerade in which all elements were awarded a level four.

“I am very happy that we were able to really do our best technically and emotionally,” said Domnina. “So we felt really pleased and happy, because if you feel that you did your best it gives you an inner satisfaction. The result is still important, but it is also very important to feel that happiness inside.”

The Russian champions moved smoothly throughout the entire routine which featured matching twizzles, difficult lifts, and an excellent circular step sequence which received a +1.80 GOE. They placed first in the Free Dance (FD), and with a…

Savchenko and Szolkowy win Grand Prix Final gold

Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy of Germany were the gold medal winners in the Pairs event, while China’s Dan Zhang and Hao Zhang and Qing Pang and Jian Tong won silver and bronze, respectively.

Savchenko and Szolkowy delivered a strong routine to L’Oiseau by Rene Dupere which featured a solid throw triple flip and throw triple Salchow, as well as three difficult lifts. However, Szolkowy doubled his first jump in a side-by-side triple toeloop-double toeloop sequence. He also put his hand down on the side-by-side triple Salchows while Savchenko doubled hers.

Nevertheless, the 2007 European champions produced two good level four spins and a nice level four spiral sequence to earn 127.09 (62.17/65.92) points. With a total score of 199.23 points, the German champions, who were second at this event last year, maintained first overall to win the gold.

“It’s a great feeling,” said Szolkowy, “and right now, I don’t think about the mistakes. I felt some pressure because we skated last…

Kims wins second consecutive Grand Prix Final gold

Yu-Na Kim of South Korea won her second consecutive Grand Prix Final, while Japan’s Mao Asada rose from sixth place after the short to win her second consecutive silver. Carolina Kostner of Italy maintained third overall to win the bronze.

Asada, who stood in sixth after the short, opened her routine with a triple Axel and a triple flip-triple toeloop combination. The World silver medalist was penalized for using the wrong take-off edge on a triple Lutz, but otherwise produced three more triple jumps, a double Axel-double loop-double loop combination, and three level four spins.

The Japanese champion earned 132.55 (73.35/59.20) points for a first place finish in the long, and with a total score of 191.59 points, rose to second place overall.

“Yesterday in the Short Program I made two big mistakes,” said the 17-year-old. “That was shocking. I never had left out the triple Lutz in my Short Program before. Today I was able to do all my jumps. When…

Belbin and Agosto current leaders in Torino

The ISU Grand Prix series concluded with the 2007-08 Grand Prix Final of Figure Skating in Torino, Italy from Dec. 14-16. It’s the first time this event is being held in a country that did not organize one of the qualifying events.

The six qualifying events began with Skate America in Oct and ended two weeks ago with the NHK Trophy in Japan. Approximately 197 skaters/teams competed throughout the Grand Prix circuit with only the top 36 skaters/teams qualifying for the Final. The top athletes are now competing for points and prize money equaling $272,000 U.S. dollars.

The competition kicked off on Dec. 14 with the Original Dance and the Men’s, Ladies’, and Pairs Short Programs.

The Original Dance (OD) for the 2007-08 season is the Folk/Country Dance in which teams can select their routine from a variety of different dances from North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

USA’s Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto placed first in the OD, followed by…

Takahashi leader after short program

Daisuke Takahashi of Japan placed first in the Men’s Short Program, followed by closely by Switzerland’s Stephane Lambiel. USA’s Evan Lysacek and teammate Johnny Weir are currently in third and fourth place, respectively.

Skating last, Takahashi drew in the audience with his routine to a hip-hop version of Swan Lake which featured very good spins and expressive footwork throughout. The current World silver medalist also executed spectacular jumps which included a triple flip-triple toeloop combination, a triple Axel, and a triple Lutz – all of which received high GOEs.

The Japanese champion, who earned the highest Program Component Score in the men’s field, placed first with 84.20 (44.50/39.70) points

“Today all jumps were no problem for me,” acknowledged the 21-year-old, “but I was using too much energy before my circular step sequence. Also the spin maybe didn’t have enough revolutions. There is still some things to work on.”

Lambiel earned a new personal best 83.80 (44.90/38.90) points, besting his score from this…