End of Grand Prix Power Rankings: 2015-2016

Half of the season down, half to go.  Based on what we've seen in the first half of the season and what we can expect to see in the second half, here are my Power Rankings for the top 10 ladies...

10. Courtney Hicks (USA)

2015-2016 Grand Prix Final & Junior Grand Prix Final: Ladies Review

The Grand Prix season comes down to this: the Final.  For the junior ladies, it was the Russians versus the Japanese; for the senior ladies, it was Teens versus the 20-Somethings.  I'll take a look at the senior ladies first and then the juniors.

2015-2016 Grand Prix Final

The Teens win it!

2015 NHK Trophy: Ladies Review + Final Grand Prix Standings

With so many well-known names at this event I expected this to be the best competition of the series.  Unfortunately, it turned out to be the most disappointing...

I'll give you a million dollars if you predicted this correctly...

2015 Rostelecom Cup: Ladies Review

There were plenty of big Russian names at this event.  We had the reigning national champ, the reigning world junior champ and the reigning Olympic champ...needless to say inflation was expected.

It's a Russian sweep!

2015 Trophee Eric Bompard: Ladies Review (Short Program)

From what we saw, this promised to be a very interesting event all around; however, due to the terrorist attacks that took place on Friday, the remainder of the event was cancelled.  Naturally, skating fans were upset but in light of the seriousness of the attacks (more than 130 people dead), it was the most respectful thing to do, as well as the safest thing to do for all of the athletes and fans.

We don't have a final score from this event but at least we have the SP results to talk about...

Gracie brought the fire in her SP

2015 Cup of China: Ladies Review

This competition didn't go exactly how I thought it would but it was still a good one.

Mao is back on top!

2015 Skate Canada: Ladies Review

Traditionally, Skate Canada is somewhat of a snoozer.  Luckily that wasn't the case this year...

Not what I was expecting at all...

2015 Skate America: Ladies Review

You know the season has officially begun when you find yourself scratching your head over the scores...

A new threat emerges

2015-2016 Season: Ladies Preview

Is anyone as excited as I am for this season to start?  There is so much to look forward to this year and my fingers are crossed we're going to see some amazing skating, some awesome comebacks and a number of knock down-drag out competitions!  Here's my preview of this year's ladies...

Mao Asada (JPN)

Can she make it back to the top?

2015 Finlandia Trophy & JGP Zagreb + Final JGP Standings

Another week, another round of competitions.  This week we had another Senior B event, Finlandia Trophy, as well as the final JGP event of the season, JGP Zagreb.  I'll take a look at both of those events and also give you the final standings of this season's Junior Grand Prix.

2015 Finlandia Trophy

The final results:

2015 Japan Open, Ondrej Nepela Trophy & JGP Logrono: Ladies Reviews

Things are starting to heat up! Lots of skating to cover again this week.  The biggest pre-season competition took place this weekend (Japan Open) as well as another Senior B event (Ondrej Nepela Trophy) and we had another JGP event this week.  Let's get to it...

2015 Japan Open

Team Japan crushed the competition!

2015 U.S. International Challenge & Nebelhorn Trophy: Ladies Review + 2015 JGP Corpernicus Stars & JGPF Standings

There's always this flurry of events around this time of the season.  The ISU Challenger Series, affectionately known as "Senior B" events, have started.  I'll take a quick look at the first two events of the series and, of course, continue my coverage of the ladies at last week's JGP event...

2015 U.S. International Classic

The 2015 U.S. International Classic medalists

2015 JGP Cup of Austria: Ladies Review + Russian Test Skates (Yay!)

I always pick a bad time to go out of town.  Lots of skating and skating news happened last week, so I'm playing catch-up.  I'll take a very quick look back at JGP Cup of Austria as well as give my thoughts on the Russian test skates from last week.  Here we go!

2015 JGP Cup of Austria: Ladies Review

The final results:

2015 JGP Colorado Springs: Ladies Review

It took me a while to get to this one.  Work has a lot to do with it (busy, busy, busy) but also because this turned out to be a bit of a splatfest so I'm not really all that excited to yap about it.  For some perspective, only two skaters scored over 100 points in the FS and the top score here wouldn't have even medaled at the first two events. *sigh*  Let's get to it...

The final results:

2015 JGP Riga Cup: Ladies Review

The second event of the JGP season was full of some really great skating!

2015 JGP Bratislava: Ladies Review

YAY!! It's the first JGP event of the season!  I always love to see the fresh new faces that emerge each year on the junior level.  Needless to say there are a number of new names that caught my eye here...

The final results:

Off Season Fun 2014-2015: Favorite Free Skates

More Off Season Fun!  Now it's time to take a look back at my favorite Free Skates from last season

5. Rika Hongo - "Carmen"

2015 Glacier Falls: Thoughts & Impressions

One of the major summer competitions took place over the weekend: Glacier Falls.  It's a chance to see early/rough cuts of skaters' programs and get an idea of where they are in terms of their summer training.  We got a good look at a number of the top U.S. ladies at this event and, from what I saw, there are some promising programs to look forward to in October.

Gracie Gold: 202.54 (1st)

Gracie won this event...and she won it in a pretty convincing fashion which is not usually the case for her, especially this early in the summer.  I'm a huge critic when it comes to Gracie so for her to turn in such strong performances in August has me thinking she may be on the right path this season.

Off Season Fun 2014-2015: Favorite Short Programs

Off Season Fun continues! Time for my favorite Short Programs from last season...

5. Alena Leonova - "Charlie Chaplin"

Off Season Fun 2014-2015: Fashion Review - Free Skate

Off Season Fun continues onward!  Time for my favorite Free Skate looks from the 2014-2015 season...

5.  Mirai Nagasu: "Madame Butterfly"

Off Season Fun 2014-2015: Fashion Review - Short Program

It's time! This marks the 4th straight year of my Off Season Fun Series of posts.  It's my absolute favorite way to waste time until the new season starts.  It's always fun to revisit some of the best outfits, programs and moments from the past season.  As usual, I'll start with my Fashion Review.  First up, my top 5 Short Program looks from last season!

5.  Maria Artemieva: "Coco Chanel"

The Legendary Tale of Kwan...

I speak of the legend of Kwan on this, the day of her birth...

All Hail the Kween...

2015-2016 Grand Prix Assignments: Thoughts, Speculations & Non-Predictions

Skating fans got a big off-season boost last week when the Grand Prix assignments for this upcoming 2015-2016 season were released.  It's always entertaining to take a look at the line up of competitors and allow our minds to run rampant with speculations and predictions.  I'll take a quick look at each Grand Prix event and then give my Non-Prediction as to how I think it will turn out.

Skate America: October 23-25

End of Season Power Rankings: 2014-2015

Wow, what a season!  We had comebacks and meltdowns and even skaters who made it into the history books.  The year after the Olympics tends to be somewhat boring and lackluster.  Thankfully, this new generation of skaters (and some of the older ones as well) made this an exciting and interesting season to watch.

With a full season in the books, I've reassessed my End of the Grand Prix Power Rankings from earlier in the season.  There has been some movement in the rankings since then with some people moving up, others moving down, and some falling out of the standings completely.  Here are my End of the Season Power Rankings...

10. Julia Lipnitskaya (RUS)

Around the World in Skating: May 19, 2015

I'm going to post my End of Season Power Rankings soon (I haven't forgotten about that) but in the last week we've gained one skater and lost another, so I figure I better yap about that first.

Mao Will Return to Competition

The ethereal goddess returns!

2015 World Team Trophy: Ladies Review

With all of the pressure of the regular season off, the World Team Trophy is an event that allows all of the top skaters from each country to relax and just perform for the crowd.  It's a lighthearted event but it's still a competition which means each country came ready to prove they were the best in the world.

Team USA - Gold, Team Russia - Silver, Team Japan - Bronze

Around the World in Skating: April 10, 2015

We usually get some of this news later in the season but, hey, I'm not complaining.  Here's a little of what's been going on lately...

Viktoria Helgesson Retires

The queen of Swedish skating steps down

2015 World Championships: Ladies Review

Down to the final major event of the season: the 2015 World Championships.  I had a good idea of what to expect at this competition...or at least I thought I did.  Man oh man, was I wrong.

The 2015 World Medalists

2015 World Championships: Ladies Preview

The 2015 World Championships are just a few days away!  It's been a long season but this is the competition everyone has been aiming for.  In preparation for the big event, I'm going to take a look at where the top skaters stand coming in and give them a bottom line for this competition.

Elizaveta Tuktamysheva (RUS)

2015 Junior World Championships: Ladies Review

The junior ladies have been relatively easy to predict this season but I always refrain from making predictions because the ice can be slippery.  Shockingly (or not shockingly, depending on how you look at it), there weren't too many surprises here...

No Russian sweep this year

2015 Junior World Championships: Ladies Preview

It's been a very long season for the junior ladies, starting all the way back in August with the first Junior Grand Prix event and finally ending with the last competition of the season: the Junior World Championships in Tallinn, Estonia.  With two-time champion Elena Radionova not in the competition, we're guaranteed to have a new winner this year.  Of course the usual suspects are in the running (i.e. the Russians) but there are a few others who can shake up the podium.

Team Russia

Evgenia Medvedeva, Maria Sotskova, Serafima Sakhanovich

L to R: Sotskova, Medvedeva, Sakhanovich

2015 Four Continents Championships: Ladies Review

I always go into a competition knowing that anything can happen. I have to admit though, I really really was not expecting this...

The 2015 Four Continents Championships medalists...wait, what?

2015 European Championships: Ladies Review + Canadian & Korean Nationals Round-Up

If ever there was an easy competition to call, it was this year's European Championships.  Not many surprises here at all.  I'll take a quick look at the European ladies and then wrap up with a quick look at the results of the Canadian and Korean national championships.

And it's a Russian clean sweep!

2015 U.S. National Championships: Ladies Review

All of the promos for this event centered on one thing: Gracie vs. Ashley.  This is the new "it" rivalry in U.S. skating.  Both want the crown...only one can wear it.  Drama, drama, drama!  Everyone was expecting a big showdown and, thankfully, that's pretty much what we got.

Diva Wagner reclaims the throne!

2015 U.S. Nationals: Ladies Preview

Nationals are right around the corner!  The senior ladies will take the ice for their SP in less than a week!  There have been plenty of story lines in US skating this year but it always comes down to who does what at nationals.  I'll take a look at where the top competitors stand coming in and give them a bottom line for these championships.

Battle of the Blondes!

2015 National Championships Round-Up

Happy New Year everyone!  It's time for a fresh new start in 2015, and that goes for figure skating too.  Several countries held their national championships over the past couple of weeks including two of the major ones: Russia and Japan.  New champions were crowned in many of the competitions.  So here's my national championship round-up...

2015 Russian National Championships

A new Russian Queen is crowned!