Agnes gurl you're running the wrong way
Random ice skating news updates
[Agnes Zawadzki returns to former coach]
Agnes Zawadzki, a contender for one of three U.S. figure skating spots at the Sochi Olympics, is switching coaches four months before the Games.
The two-time reigning U.S. bronze medalist left Christy Krall, whom she had been working with the last two seasons, to return to her previous coach, Tom Zakrajsek of Colorado Springs, Colo.
“I feel we have done great work together and that I was at my most consistent competitively when working with him,” Zawadzki said, according to US Figure Skating. “Christy helped me improve artistically as a skater and renewed my love of the sport.”
Zakrajsek coached Zawadzki from 2008-11, helping her to the 2010 U.S. junior championship and silver and bronze, respectively, at the 2010 and 2011 World Junior Championships.
Zawadzki finished fourth at her season debut, the U.S. International Classic, last month. She’s one of several women in the running for three Sochi berths, led by U.S. champion Ashley Wagner and runner-up Gracie Gold.
Gold changed coaches last month, beginning a partnership with Frank Carroll, who is Evan Lysacek‘s coach.
Zakrajsek coached Rachael Flatt to a 2010 Olympic berth and currently coaches U.S. champion Max Aaron. source
[Rachael Flatt is trying to make a comeback]
Rachael Flatt has a hard time remembering the last time she competed in a U.S. Figure Skating regional event.
“I think it was the 2006-07 season,” says the 21-year-old, a junior at Stanford. “I remember skating in sectionals, but I can’t remember where regionals were … it was too long ago.”
It’s hard to blame the failing memory of the 2010 U.S. national champion and Vancouver Olympian: regionals are the first-tier event used in the qualifying process for nationals. This weekend Flatt will descend on a rink in Vacaville, Calif., to try and continue a comeback that saw her miss much of last season with injuries.
The attempt - two qualifying competitions before making it to nationals - is virtually unheard of for a former Olympian. Flatt, who was seventh at the Olympics in Vancouver, has four national medals under her belt, but missed the competition a year ago in Omaha, a first since 2006.
“I’ve really struggled with injuries over the last two years, specifically with tendinitis in my ankle and a stress facture in my landing leg,” explains Flatt, who is studying biology and psychology. “I took most of last season off and didn’t skate for several months. I came back in May and started to fool around with some program ideas and it was at that point that I realized I really missed competing. I was finally feeling better and had taken enough time off for my injuries to resolve themselves.”
That resolution brought mental clarity for Flatt, who is known as a consistent competitor when on the ice: she wanted another shot at the Olympics. At the age of 17, she was considered a medal contender in Vancouver but faded to seventh after a nationals where she had vaulted to first place over Ashley Wagner and veteran Sasha Cohen with a convincing free skate.
Almost four years later, Cohen is long retired and Wagner is now a two-time national champion. Flatt is a long shot to make the three-member team in the ladies event, with names like Wagner, Gracie Gold, Agnes Zawadzki, Christina Gao and Mirai Nagasu now placed before hers.
“Honestly, I’m viewing it as just another season. I’ve been hurt many times before and it’s nothing new for me to come back from an injury,” says Flatt, whose schedule at Stanford is lighter, though still full-time. “I just want to have fun again while competing. I think I really lost sight of that when I was competing injured for so long.”
“Being pain-free is the main objective, but skating incredibly well at nationals would the icing on the cake and making the Olympic team would be the sprinkles on the icing on the cake.”
But can Flatt even dream about those sprinkles?
“It’s a shock to a lot of people that Rachael is doing this. She's kind of a big question mark at this point,” says Lynn Rutherford, a longtime skating writer who works for icenetwork.com. “It's rare for a former U.S. champion or Olympian to do this. Emily Hughes tried it in 2009 and Alissa Czisny is attempting it this year, too. If Johnny Weir had decided to compete this season, he would have gone through the same process.”
Czisny, a national champion in both 2009 and 2011 (but was not on the 2010 Olympic team), advanced to sectionals by winning her region earlier this week.
“I think it’s really respectable,” says Flatt’s peer Gao, who said Rachael helped her with a decision to attend Harvard last summer. “I know coming back is very hard … It has to be really hard to go through sectionals.”
For Flatt, belief doesn’t just come from within, but also from her inner circle, including her family.
“Going to the Olympics in 2010 was an amazing experience for her as an athlete and us as a family,” says Jody Flatt, Rachael’s mom. “We’ve never taken any of this for granted. In 2009 Rachael did all the media events and there was sort of this pre-deteremined mindset that was, ‘Oh, you’re a part of the Olympic team.’ But the reality is, not all of those athletes will make it - there are no guarantees. It comes down to you have to do the work. It’s still a competition and you have to perform. No matter what the competition is, you still have to deliver.”
If Flatt delivers, she’ll do so on her own terms: she’s staying at Stanford this quarter (“focusing on just skating has never really worked for me”) and has a team around her she says clicks at St. Moritz Skating Club, training at a rink in San Jose with coaches Justin Dillon and Lynn Smith.
Flatt has worked with Dillon choreographing her own programs this year, set for (a competitive) debut at regionals and then at Cup of Nice in France, Oct. 23-27. Should she place in top four at regionals, she’ll go to sectionals in November, held in Oakland.
And then - if she qualifies - nationals.
“It’s going to be a little bit of a different mindset coming back through this and going through regionals and sectionals,” an optimistic Flatt says. “It’s a little bit of a change of mindset and the overall approach. In a way, it’s like going back to the good old days. I’m taking it on a day-to-day basis and that’s the way I intend to keep it.”
[Yuko/Sasha possiby out for the Olympics =(]
Russia’s second-best pairs figure skating team may be out of the Olympics.
Alexander Smirnov tore a knee ligament falling during his first competition of the season with partner Yuko Kavaguti, according to R-Sport.
The Olympic pairs figure skating competition is Feb. 11-12. It would appear unlikely Smirnov could return from such a serious knee injury in four months.
Smirnov, 28, and Kavaguti, 31, who was born in China and once competed for Japan, placed fourth at the 2010 Olympics. They were the highest-placing Russian pairs team. It marked the first time since 1960 that a Russian or Soviet team did not win a pairs gold medal, let alone any medal.
Smirnov and Kavaguti had won the 2010 European Championships before the Vancouver Olympics and took bronze at the World Championships one month after the Games.
They finished fourth, seventh and sixth at the next three World Championships and were passed by 2013 world champions Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov as Russia’s top team. source
[Joannie Rochette's Free Skate from Japan Open 2013]
She placed 2nd....so basically even though she's still retired she can still school most of your faves
[Yuna out for six weeks (at least)]
Olympic figure skating champion Kim Yuna's preparations for the 2014 Winter Games have suffered a setback after the Korea Skating Union announced she will miss up to six weeks with a foot injury.
The 23-year-old, who blew away the competition in Vancouver three years ago to become the first South Korean to win an Olympic figure skating gold medal, had injured a metatarsal on her right foot, Yonhap News quoted a KSU official as saying on Thursday.
"During training Kim Yuna felt a lot of pain in her right foot," the official said, adding that an examination showed a problem with the metatarsal.
"The diagnosis she received is that she would need around six weeks to recover and will also require physio after she returns."
Kim, who could miss skating grands prix in Canada and France because of the injury, is the favorite to retain her Olympic title in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi in February. source
[Oksana Baiul suing former agency for $400M]
Former Olympic figure skating champion Oksana Baiul sued William Morris Agency LLC and several other agents and accountants in New York state court on Tuesday, seeking more than $400 million and alleging a 20-year scheme to steal from Baiul and illegally enrich themselves. source
Unfortunately the juicier details are under a subscription paywall >_<
[Agnes Zawadzki returns to former coach]
Agnes Zawadzki, a contender for one of three U.S. figure skating spots at the Sochi Olympics, is switching coaches four months before the Games.
The two-time reigning U.S. bronze medalist left Christy Krall, whom she had been working with the last two seasons, to return to her previous coach, Tom Zakrajsek of Colorado Springs, Colo.
“I feel we have done great work together and that I was at my most consistent competitively when working with him,” Zawadzki said, according to US Figure Skating. “Christy helped me improve artistically as a skater and renewed my love of the sport.”
Zakrajsek coached Zawadzki from 2008-11, helping her to the 2010 U.S. junior championship and silver and bronze, respectively, at the 2010 and 2011 World Junior Championships.
Zawadzki finished fourth at her season debut, the U.S. International Classic, last month. She’s one of several women in the running for three Sochi berths, led by U.S. champion Ashley Wagner and runner-up Gracie Gold.
Gold changed coaches last month, beginning a partnership with Frank Carroll, who is Evan Lysacek‘s coach.
Zakrajsek coached Rachael Flatt to a 2010 Olympic berth and currently coaches U.S. champion Max Aaron. source
[Rachael Flatt is trying to make a comeback]
Rachael Flatt has a hard time remembering the last time she competed in a U.S. Figure Skating regional event.
“I think it was the 2006-07 season,” says the 21-year-old, a junior at Stanford. “I remember skating in sectionals, but I can’t remember where regionals were … it was too long ago.”
It’s hard to blame the failing memory of the 2010 U.S. national champion and Vancouver Olympian: regionals are the first-tier event used in the qualifying process for nationals. This weekend Flatt will descend on a rink in Vacaville, Calif., to try and continue a comeback that saw her miss much of last season with injuries.
The attempt - two qualifying competitions before making it to nationals - is virtually unheard of for a former Olympian. Flatt, who was seventh at the Olympics in Vancouver, has four national medals under her belt, but missed the competition a year ago in Omaha, a first since 2006.
“I’ve really struggled with injuries over the last two years, specifically with tendinitis in my ankle and a stress facture in my landing leg,” explains Flatt, who is studying biology and psychology. “I took most of last season off and didn’t skate for several months. I came back in May and started to fool around with some program ideas and it was at that point that I realized I really missed competing. I was finally feeling better and had taken enough time off for my injuries to resolve themselves.”
That resolution brought mental clarity for Flatt, who is known as a consistent competitor when on the ice: she wanted another shot at the Olympics. At the age of 17, she was considered a medal contender in Vancouver but faded to seventh after a nationals where she had vaulted to first place over Ashley Wagner and veteran Sasha Cohen with a convincing free skate.
Almost four years later, Cohen is long retired and Wagner is now a two-time national champion. Flatt is a long shot to make the three-member team in the ladies event, with names like Wagner, Gracie Gold, Agnes Zawadzki, Christina Gao and Mirai Nagasu now placed before hers.
“Honestly, I’m viewing it as just another season. I’ve been hurt many times before and it’s nothing new for me to come back from an injury,” says Flatt, whose schedule at Stanford is lighter, though still full-time. “I just want to have fun again while competing. I think I really lost sight of that when I was competing injured for so long.”
“Being pain-free is the main objective, but skating incredibly well at nationals would the icing on the cake and making the Olympic team would be the sprinkles on the icing on the cake.”
But can Flatt even dream about those sprinkles?
“It’s a shock to a lot of people that Rachael is doing this. She's kind of a big question mark at this point,” says Lynn Rutherford, a longtime skating writer who works for icenetwork.com. “It's rare for a former U.S. champion or Olympian to do this. Emily Hughes tried it in 2009 and Alissa Czisny is attempting it this year, too. If Johnny Weir had decided to compete this season, he would have gone through the same process.”
Czisny, a national champion in both 2009 and 2011 (but was not on the 2010 Olympic team), advanced to sectionals by winning her region earlier this week.
“I think it’s really respectable,” says Flatt’s peer Gao, who said Rachael helped her with a decision to attend Harvard last summer. “I know coming back is very hard … It has to be really hard to go through sectionals.”
For Flatt, belief doesn’t just come from within, but also from her inner circle, including her family.
“Going to the Olympics in 2010 was an amazing experience for her as an athlete and us as a family,” says Jody Flatt, Rachael’s mom. “We’ve never taken any of this for granted. In 2009 Rachael did all the media events and there was sort of this pre-deteremined mindset that was, ‘Oh, you’re a part of the Olympic team.’ But the reality is, not all of those athletes will make it - there are no guarantees. It comes down to you have to do the work. It’s still a competition and you have to perform. No matter what the competition is, you still have to deliver.”
If Flatt delivers, she’ll do so on her own terms: she’s staying at Stanford this quarter (“focusing on just skating has never really worked for me”) and has a team around her she says clicks at St. Moritz Skating Club, training at a rink in San Jose with coaches Justin Dillon and Lynn Smith.
Flatt has worked with Dillon choreographing her own programs this year, set for (a competitive) debut at regionals and then at Cup of Nice in France, Oct. 23-27. Should she place in top four at regionals, she’ll go to sectionals in November, held in Oakland.
And then - if she qualifies - nationals.
“It’s going to be a little bit of a different mindset coming back through this and going through regionals and sectionals,” an optimistic Flatt says. “It’s a little bit of a change of mindset and the overall approach. In a way, it’s like going back to the good old days. I’m taking it on a day-to-day basis and that’s the way I intend to keep it.”
[Yuko/Sasha possiby out for the Olympics =(]
Russia’s second-best pairs figure skating team may be out of the Olympics.
Alexander Smirnov tore a knee ligament falling during his first competition of the season with partner Yuko Kavaguti, according to R-Sport.
The Olympic pairs figure skating competition is Feb. 11-12. It would appear unlikely Smirnov could return from such a serious knee injury in four months.
Smirnov, 28, and Kavaguti, 31, who was born in China and once competed for Japan, placed fourth at the 2010 Olympics. They were the highest-placing Russian pairs team. It marked the first time since 1960 that a Russian or Soviet team did not win a pairs gold medal, let alone any medal.
Smirnov and Kavaguti had won the 2010 European Championships before the Vancouver Olympics and took bronze at the World Championships one month after the Games.
They finished fourth, seventh and sixth at the next three World Championships and were passed by 2013 world champions Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov as Russia’s top team. source
[Joannie Rochette's Free Skate from Japan Open 2013]
She placed 2nd....so basically even though she's still retired she can still school most of your faves
Click to view[Yuna out for six weeks (at least)]
Olympic figure skating champion Kim Yuna's preparations for the 2014 Winter Games have suffered a setback after the Korea Skating Union announced she will miss up to six weeks with a foot injury.
The 23-year-old, who blew away the competition in Vancouver three years ago to become the first South Korean to win an Olympic figure skating gold medal, had injured a metatarsal on her right foot, Yonhap News quoted a KSU official as saying on Thursday.
"During training Kim Yuna felt a lot of pain in her right foot," the official said, adding that an examination showed a problem with the metatarsal.
"The diagnosis she received is that she would need around six weeks to recover and will also require physio after she returns."
Kim, who could miss skating grands prix in Canada and France because of the injury, is the favorite to retain her Olympic title in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi in February. source
[Oksana Baiul suing former agency for $400M]
Former Olympic figure skating champion Oksana Baiul sued William Morris Agency LLC and several other agents and accountants in New York state court on Tuesday, seeking more than $400 million and alleging a 20-year scheme to steal from Baiul and illegally enrich themselves. source
Unfortunately the juicier details are under a subscription paywall >_<