Johny Weir wins Mid's | Golden Skate

Johny Weir wins Mid's

MasterF

Rinkside
Joined
Aug 24, 2003
Last week I saw Johny Weir compete for the first time since that disaster at nationals. His SP was very good and had excellent choreograhpy. He landed 3flip/3toe ( which I think is not good enough to be tops in worlds). He stepped out of the triple axel and finished the rest of the program in good form. His long was skated to Dr. Zhivago (the one we were denied at nationals). He opened with 3axel/3toe did six more triples and stepped out of his second 3axel. The program was not as flowery as I thought it was going to be. My only comment on his outfit (which is the same one as last year) is that he should cut that piece of material from his wrist out, I have no idea how that relates to his program. The outfit to his SP is also overdone with sequence. He seems really ready for this season.

On a different note I was more wowed by the second place skater named Roheme Ward. This guy has the making of a superb skater. He commands your attention with just his stroking. The only problem with him is that he can't hold himself together through the entire program. He needs some serious training regiment.
 

mpal2

Final Flight
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
I hope Rohene makes it back to Nationals this year. I love his style and hope to see him on a regular basis.
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Thanks for the news, MasterF. I sounds like Johnny delivered the goods. I hope he is ready to make his mark this season.

Mathman
 

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
I hope Rohene will see a sports shrink, and that the sports shrink helps. I have seen him skate and he is awesome. If he makes it to Nats, I hope to catch his practices again, because that's when you can best see how Amazing he is.
dpp
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
Doris - I know Johnny and I'm not surprised he won but this Roheme. Who is he and why have I not seen him before and if I did why do I not remember him?

Joe
 

MasterF

Rinkside
Joined
Aug 24, 2003
Roheme Ward

Roheme Ward has been to nationals a couple of times as a junior and senior. The reason most people don't know him is because he fails to make it to the top group that gets televised. I saw him two years ago and his style and technique were incredible, he can even do a double axel on the opposite direction. He belongs to a club called "Starlight Ice Dance Club" (in the state of I don't know). At the competition I saw him with two ladies as his coach. A white lady I never seen before and the other was a young black lady by the name of Amanda Ward. Amanda use to be a very promising young skater from NY in the mid 90's. Her Sister Jacklyn is now a National Rank Judge. The reason he needs a Shrink is that if he misses one thing you can forget the rest of the program. I hope this info helps out.
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
Thanks MasterF - That was a big help and now I hope to see him somehow, somewhere, skating (and maybe winning).:)

Joe
 

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
MasterF wrote most of what I would have said. I saw Rohene at Nat's in LA and he did some great stuff in practice, including the double axel in both directions and some great spins. But he fell apart in the competition. I was so sad for him.

I believe that he was in a series of shows with Rory Flack Burghardt this last year?

Did anyone here see these shows?
Or am I hallucinating here?

Doris
 

JOHIO2

Medalist
Joined
Jul 29, 2003
MasterF,

When I first read your post, I was confused. After my brain returned, I looked up the Mid Atlantic and checked out the SCNY site:

http://www.thescny.org

For the rest of us doofus brains, don't stop after checking on Johnny. After all, you could be seeing the names of future champions in those ranks!

In case anyone is interested, I went to Skate Cleveland earlier this month. Colin Pennington, younger brother of Parker Pennington, and current US Novice Men's champion competes as a junior this year. Those younger skaters are the future, so I look forward to seeing some of these youngsters again!

http://www.sk8stuff.com/utility/lister_event_detail.asp?id=1869

In fact, there are many local events leading up to regionals in October and then sectionals and nationals. Be sure to check out more of them!

http://www.sk8stuff.com/default.asp
 
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Joined
Jul 11, 2003
Thanks Johio - You and I have a figure skating love in common. We like it at all levels and love to watcj the newcomers climb the ladder.

I would presume that the Mids were held at Chelsea Piers. Am I correct? If I had known that I would have been there to watch.

Joe
 

RealtorGal

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
I love seeing newcomers succeed. You never know who is going to finally get it together. The first time I saw Oksana Baiul was at the Worlds she won, and I was blown away. I felt the same way about Sasha Cohen. There are up and comers with the "it" factor--it's always interesting to see them when they break through to the big time.
 

Sylvia

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 25, 2003
Rohene Ward

Here's a fan site for Rohene Ward that hasn't been updated in a long time, but there are plans to update it (with direct input from Rohene) in the future:
http://home.earthlink.net/~moosedog1/rohene/

Rohene lives and trains in the Minneapolis area, and his coach is a woman named Page Lipe. He is one of the most naturally talented skaters (athlete and performing artist) that I've ever seen skate in person, and, yes, his track record in competition tends to be VERY inconsistent. His triple axel in the short program at the Mid-Atlantics club competition had such height, distance, fast rotation in the air, and flow out on the landing -- it's one of the best axels in the world right now, IMO. He also lands beautiful quad toe-triple toe combos *in practice* and achieves amazing and flexible positions in his spins (including a twisted sit and a layback that is better than many ladies'!) and spirals.

Edited to add: Yes, Rohene performed in a few shows with Rory Burghart and other African-American skaters called "Soul Spectacular on Ice" earlier this year. Also, the U.S. club competition season is pretty much over now -- the 9 Regional Championships (first qualifying round for 2004 US Nationals) are set to begin in October.
 
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mpal2

Final Flight
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
Joe,

Rohene is definitely worth seeing. He also seems to be an incredibly nice person off ice. We saw him watching as many of the practices as possible at 2002 Nationals. He spent a lot of time warming up in the camera pits and we saw him clap for several of the skaters that were already out on the ice.

Sometimes, watching him watch the skaters was more interesting. People who were fortunate enough to meet him said that they enjoyed talking to him.


Sylvia,

Thanks for the link to his site.
 

Mistyeyed

Rinkside
Joined
Sep 4, 2003
Well, I have to say that I am happy. I like J/W's skating. I just hope he can begin to hang on to those jumps. He's going to have to have it all by the end. :D
 
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