Show Skating Alive and Well in LA

On a balmy autumn evening, thousands of skating fans filled the Staples Center in Los Angeles to take part in the North American premiere of 2010 All That Skate LA. The show, presented by Olympic Champion Yuna Kim’s management agency AT Sports, gathered an impressive roster of figure skating royalty, and brought them together for a spectacle unlike any other skating show to date.

[caption id=”attachment_2834″ align=”aligncenter” width=”600″ caption=”2010 All…

Shen and Zhao capture 2010 Olympic gold

In what turned out to be a nail-biting event, Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao of China won the 2010 Olympic gold medal, while teammates Qing Pang and Jian Tong captured the silver. Germany’s Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy settled for the bronze.

Shen and Zhao opened their  emotional routine to Albinoni’s Adagio in G Minor with solid side-by-side triple toeloops and a double Axel-double Axel sequence. However, during a Axel…

Shen and Zhao lead with record-breaking score

Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao of China lead the pairs after the Short Program, followed closely by Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy of Germany and Yuko Kavaguti and Alexander Smirnov of Russia.

Though Shen and Zhao  are the oldest pairs team competing in Vancouver (31 and 36 respectively), it certainly didn’t show.

Skating first, the current bronze medalists  set the tone for the event with an instrumental version of Who Wants…

Shen and Zhao take third Grand Prix Final title

Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao of China maintained their lead to win the their third title, while teammates Qing Pang and Jian Tong rose up from fourth to second overall to claim the silver. Germany’s Aliona   Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy slipped from second to third  for the bronze.

Shen and Zhao delivered a poetic routine to Albinoni’s Adagio in G Minor which featured strong side-by-side triple toes, excellent throw jumps,…

Shen and Zhao lead after Short Program

Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao of China currently lead after setting a new record score of 75.36 points. The three-time World Champions delivered an emotional performance to Queen’s Who Wants to   Live Forever which featured solid side-by-side triple toeloops, a triple twist, and throw triple loop.

“Today we felt very good out there on the ice,” said a happy Zhao. “We almost felt like we   were in Beijing! All our…

Shen and Zhao: Going for the Olympic dream

It is an Olympic season and it is the season of comebacks. Three-time World Champions and two-time Olympic bronze medalists Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao celebrated a successful comeback to competition at the Samsung Anycall Cup of China last…

Shen and Zhao win third World title

The 2007 ISU World Figure Skating Championships continued Wednesday with the Pairs’ Free Skate after the Men’s Short Program.

Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao of China…

Shen and Zhao take lead at Worlds

The 2007 ISU World Figure Skating Championships continued Tuesday with the Pairs’ Short Program.

The anticipation in the arena was almost palpable with a hush falling over the crowd as China’s Xue Shen (28)…

Shen and Zhao win Four Continents title

The Chinese pair team of Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao and their countrymen Qing Pang and Jian Tong reined supreme in the pairs free skate tonight with Shen and Zhao wowing the audience to clinch the gold medal and Pang and Tong earning the silver.

It was a competition that began with a horrible on- ice accident that ended up with Canadian pairs champion Jessica Dubé in the hospital.

Jessica Dubé…

Shen and Zhao lead pairs at Four Continents

China’s Xue Shen (28) and Hongbo Zhao (33) skated a beautiful program to Romanza by Bacarisse that showcased both the team’s world-class athleticism and their strong, yet balletic style. The two-time and reigning Olympic bronze medalists opened with a set of side-by-side triple toe loops followed by their renown gigantic throw triple…

2006-07 Grand Prix Final: Pairs Highlights

Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao of China were the winners in the Pairs discipline, while teammates Dan Zhang and Hao Zhang settled from bronze. Germany’s Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy took the silver.

Shen and Zhao, who skated last, displayed total mastery in their routine to Romanza by Salvadore Bacarisse, executing solid side-by-side triple toeloops, followed by an excellent throw triple toeloop, a good level three spiral sequence, and…

2006 NHK Trophy: Pairs Highlights

The ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating series concluded with NHK Trophy, the sixth and final of the qualifying events leading up to the Grand Prix Final. The event was held Nov 29 – Dec 3 at the Big Hat Arena in Nagano City, Nagano, Japan. Over 60 skaters from 15 different countries competed for points and monies totaling $180,000 in U.S. dollars. The points went toward qualification for…

2006 Cup of China: Pairs Highlights

The ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating series continued with Cup of China, the third of six qualifying events. The event was held November 9-12 at the Olympic Center in Nanjing, Jiangsu, China. Over 60 skaters from 18 different countries competed for points and monies totaling $180,000 in U.S. dollars. The points go toward qualification for the Grand Prix Final, to which the top six competitors in points standings…

2004 Skate Canada: Pairs Highlights

Skate Canada, the second of six events of the Grand Prix Figure Skating series, was held October 28-31 at the Halifax Metro Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Skaters competed for points and for prize money totaling $180,000 (U.S.). The points go toward qualification for the Grand Prix Final, to which the top six competitors in points standings from each discipline will be invited. The Grand Prix Final will be…

2004 World Figure Skating Championships: Pairs Highlights

The 2004 ISU World Figure Skating championships opened in Dortmund, Germany Monday with approximately 179 skaters participating from 43 countries. Held in Dortmund for the third time, the event took place in the Westfalenhalle arena beginning March 22 with the Men’s Qualifying Round and the Pairs Short Program.

In their sixth trip to worlds, Russia’s Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin won their first gold medal. China’s Xue Shen and Hongo…

2003-04 Grand Prix Final of Figure Skating: Highlights

The ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final was held at the World Arena in Colorado Springs, Col., December 12-14, 2003. The event featured the top six qualifiers (in each discipline) from the six Grand Prix of Figure Skating series which began in October.

Japan’s Fumie Suguri seized the gold medal in the ladies event with a total of 182.08 points. USA’s Sasha Cohen had to settle for silver with…

2003 Cup of China: Highlights

The ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating series resumed with the Cup of China in Beijing, the third of six qualifying events. The competition took place at the Capital Gymnasium from Nov 6-9, 2003. Sixty-six skaters from 13 countries and regions participated in the first senior ISU Grand Prix Figure Skating event to be hosted by China.

The new judging system – Code of Points (CoP), showed it’s teeth when…

2003 World Figure Skating Championships: Pairs Highlights

With the departure of Olympic champions Jamie Sale and David Pelletier of Canada and world bronze medalists Kyoko Ina and John Zimmerman of the USA, the pairs competition at the 2003 World Figure Skating Championships in Washington, DC was touted as a battle between the top three Russian and Chinese teams. The Russians took two out of three medals at the European Championships while the Chinese swept the Four…

2003 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships: Highlights

The ISU created the Four Continents Championships to give non-European skaters an additional opportunity to compete and to earn prize money. The event is also supposed to promote skating in countries where the sport is not as developed yet. The inaugural event was held in 1999, and the championships have continued to grow year by year. Of course the event has not yet reached the level of the European…

2002 NHK Trophy: Highlights

The Grand Prix series concluded in Japan with the NHK Trophy, held in Kyoto from November 28 to December 1. The sixth and final event of the Grand Prix series, NHK was the last opportunity for skaters to earn points toward qualifying for the Grand Prix Final, which will be held in St. Petersburg in March 2003.

Japan’s rising star Yoshie Onda won the ladies event for her second victory…

2002 Cup of Russia: Highlights

Russian skaters dominated the medals at their home Grand Prix event, the Cup of Russia, held in Moscow from November 21-24. Russia took home six medals total, including three of the four gold medals in the competition.

World Champions Irina Lobacheva and Ilia Averbukh made their season debut in the dance event. Despite a free dance that wasn’t quite finished and included a few questionable moves, the duo earned marks…

2002 Bofrost Cup on Ice: Highlights

The third event of the Grand Prix Series, Nations Cup, was held in Gelsenkirchen, Germany from November 7-10, 2002. Nations Cup was the season debut for World Champions in pairs, Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao of China, and the #1 ranked man in the world, Russia’s Evgeni Plushenko.

Shen and Zhao appeared in top form, skating nearly clean short and long programs. The duo earned marks of up to 5.9…

2002 World Figure Skating Championships: Pairs Highlights

Olympic co-champions Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze, of Russia, and Jamie Sale and David Pelletier, of Canada, each elected to skip the World Championships due to a whirlwind of media appearances following the Olympic Games last month. Unlike the pairs judging fiasco that took all of Salt Lake City by storm, the only fiasco of the competition in Nagano was the dreadful level of performances among the top competitors….

2001 NHK Trophy: Highlights

The 2001 NHK Trophy Kumamoto, Japan at the Aqua Dome, November 28 – December 2, 2001, the final event of a series of six competitions before the Grand Prix Final.

Uzbekistan’s Tatiana Malinina took first place in a depleted field to qualify for the final remaining berth in Grand Prix Final. With the controversial last-minute withdrawals of Maria Butyrskaya and Irina Slutskaya, Malinina was able to accumulate enough points to…

2001 Sparkassen Cup on Ice: Highlights

The 2001 Sparkassen on Ice Cup (Nations Cup) figure skating championships were held at the Emscher-Lippe-Halle, November 9-11, 2001, in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. This is the third of a series of six competitions before the Grand Prix Final which is to be held in December in Ontario, Canada.

World Champion Evgeny Plushenko made his debut in fine form, sweeping ordinals in both the short and free programs with two rock-solid programs….