It was the post-Olympic season that started off the year 2011. There may not have been an Olympics this year, but that doesn’t make the year any less exciting in the figure skating world. Memorable programs, technical development, earthquakes, lots to talk about. Here is a review of the figure skating shenanigans that was the first half of year, or last season.
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Chan wins Canadians.
The year started with the Canadian Figure Skating Championships, and a quad clinic by Patrick Chan. He skated one of the most difficult free skates ever, with two quads and seven triples, to win his fourth consecutive Canadian title by over 56 points (that’s most than most ladies score in a short program). With Olympic bronze medalist Joannie Rochette taking the season off, Cynthia Phaneuf regained the Canadian title that she won seven years before.
Bradley surprises, Czisny comes back.
Perhaps the most unexpected result at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships was the men’s podium, with Ryan Bradley winning the event and Richard Dornbush taking the silver and Ross Miner taking the bronze. In doing so, Dornbush and Miner pushed pre-competition favorites Jeremy Abbott and Adam Rippon, who both made a bunch of mistakes, off the podium.
In the ladies’ event, after almost retiring following a disappointing Olympic season, Alissa Czisny made a memorable comeback, winning the Grand Prix Final in December 2010 and capping off her resurgence with a second National title. Caitlin Yankowskas and John Coughlin won their first (and only) pairs’ gold with their moving Ave Maria free skate, and Meryl Davis and Charlie White took their third career gold.
Meier retires after Europeans win.
For some skaters, it’s the European Championships that they look forward to most, oftentimes because it is taking place at their home countries. Europeans took place the same week as U.S. Nationals.
No one epitomized this more than Switzerland’s Sarah Meier, who won the competition in her home country and retired on top. France’s Florent Amodio stunned countryman Brian Joubert to win his first Europeans. Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy continued their undefeated season with a fourth European championships, and Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat took their first gold.
Virtue/Moir comes back at Four Continents, sort of.
The Four Continents Championships in February was supposed to have been the site of the return of Olympic champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, who had been sidelined all season after Virtue’s surgery in the fall. But after taking the lead in the short dance, their comeback was cut short when Virtue felt tightness in her left leg during the free dance warmup and they withdrew as a precautionary move. Rivals and training mates Meryl Davis and Charlie White won the event after they pulled out.
Olympic silver medalists Qing Pang and Jian Tong won the pairs’ competition, and Japan made it a sweep of the singles’ titles, with Daisuke Takahashi winning in the men’s event and Miki Ando winning the ladies’ gold.
Earthquake derails Worlds.
The 2011 World Championships was supposed to have taken place in Nagano, Japan, in March. But two weeks before competition was to begin, the devastating Tohoku earthquake hit Japan, causing the Japan Skating Federation to cancel the competition. A number of other federations stepped in and volunteered to host the event, including U.S. Figure Skating with Lake Placid and Colorado Springs, and in the end, Worlds was relocated to Moscow and rescheduled for the end of April.
Chan becomes world record holder.
It wasn’t quite as good as his free skate at Canadians, but Patrick Chan took the World title in world record fashion, demolishing the competition by almost 30 points. Two new faces made it onto the podium, with Japan’s Takahiko Kozuka winning the silver and Russia’s Artur Gachinski taking the surprise bronze. The pairs’ gold belonged to Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy, with new Russian team Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov showing that Russian pairs are back with the silver medal.
The return of Yuna Kim.
After taking the Grand Prix series off, Olympic champion Yuna Kim took competition ice for the first time in Moscow. But after winning the short program with an error in her triple lutz, Kim could not hold on after a couple of mistakes in the free skate and fell to the silver for the second time in two years. It was 2007 World champion Miki Ando who took her second title, edging Kim by just under two points.
The first American gold in ice dance.
Americans Meryl Davis and Charlie White made history by taking the gold over Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir to win Worlds. They became the first American ice dance team to win a World title. The surprise team on the podium was Americans Maia Shibutani and Alex Shibutani, who took the bronze after bronze medal favorites Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat took a costly spill in the free dance. The podium was not only all-North American, but it was also all-Shpilband/Zoueva-coached students.
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