Zhang and Toth hope to develop skills in the off season

Taylor Toth knew that pairs skating was his  destiny from the moment he stepped on the ice when he was seven years  old. His on-ice partner, Felicia Zhang never gave pairs skating a second  thought until last May when her coach Jeff DiGregorio approached her about  teaming up with Toth. Zhang agreed to give it a try, and the try-out resulted in the creation of  the 2010 US Junior Pairs Champions.

“To think that a year ago Felicia had never even  attempted pairs, and now we are the Junior Pair Champions really is a testament  to our hard work,” Toth explained recently. “Felicia has an amazing ability to  learn very quickly as evidenced by our success this year.”

Toth, 21, is a junior…

Suzuki: The exception to the rule

Most top  female figure skaters rise to success and stardom in their teens. Some then leave the competitive sport after winning  the Olympic gold – for example Sarah Hughes, Oksana Baiul and Tara Lipinski. Some  make an early breakthrough, but stay in the sport, adding up titles and medals, and  leave a legacy like Katarina Witt, Michelle Kwan and Irina Slutskaya. Then you have another category in which some stick  around for years before they suddenly fulfill their potential and  reach the international podiums. They are the exception to the rule, and Japan’s Akiko Suzuki is one of them.

Her  longevity and perseverance is even more admirable as Japan has become a powerhouse of Ladies’ figure skating in the past two Olympic cycles with the likes of Mao Asada, Miki…

Hochstein’s ‘dream season’ inspires lofty goals

On the surface it seems as if Grant Hochstein is somewhat of a late bloomer in terms of his skating career.  At the ripe old age of 19, the 2009 U.S. Junior pewter medalist earned his first Grand Prix assignments on the junior level last fall, and was virtually unknown in the international community.

Hochstein might be considered one of the surprises of the 2009-10 season, qualifying for the Junior Grand Prix Final and following that up with being selected to represent the United States at the Junior World Championships last month in The Hague.

Hochstein’s story begins shortly after watching his idol, Michelle Kwan, skate at the 1998 Olympic Games.  At first his parents were hesitant to allow their son to get involved in the sport.

“It took a while…

China’s future in pair skating

In the past decade, China has become a pair skating  powerhouse  with the likes of Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao, Qing Pang and Jian  Tong, and Dan Zhang and Hao Zhang. Between them, these three teams have won five Olympic medals  since 2002, and have improved their results with each Olympic cycle. Most recently,  Shen and Zhao claimed China’s first Olympic figure skating gold  in Vancouver, while Pang and Tong took the silver and  went on to earn their second world title in Torino last month.

However,  behind these three top teams there was a significant gap. The younger pairs  were not able to follow up with stellar results yet….