Goodbye, Farewell & Thank You: Kanako Murakami

Less than a week after Mao Asada announced her retirement Kanako Murakami performed as a guest at the World Team Trophy exhibition and announced her retirement as well.  My heart can't take much more of this!

Thank you Kanako!

2016 Rostelecom Cup: Review

Everyone was expecting this to be a battle of the Russians but in the end that's not what we got...

Anna is stepping it up!

2016 Skate America: Review

The first competition of the season was touted as being another Ashley v. Gracie showdown. The media loves to drum up the drama between these two stars but in the end, there wasn't much to be had.  Instead we saw a few new stars emerge and that's always something to talk about.

The Americans go 1-2!

Off Season Fun 2015-2016: Favorite Short Programs

Off Season Fun continues onward!  Next up I'll take a look back a my favorite programs from the 2015-2016 season.  First up, the Short Program...

5. Anna Pogorilaya: "Bolero for Violin and Orchestra"

2016 Four Continents Championships: Ladies Review

A lot of the top names were invited to this event but only a few of them came...and even fewer actually showed up.

Not the podium I was expecting but, I'll take it!

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 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...

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"

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

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 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!

End of Grand Prix Power Rankings: 2014-2015

The Grand Prix series is over and we're moving into the second half of the season.  Based on what we've seen and what we can expect to see, here are my Power Rankings for the top 10 ladies of the 2014-2015 season so far...

10. Rika Hongo (JPN)

2014 NHK Trophy: Ladies Review & 2014 Grand Prix Final Standings

This final event started off as a real nail biter but, like so many of the competitions this year, turned out to be a little less thrilling than I expected it to be.

Gracie is finally Golden!

2014 Cup of China: Ladies Review

At first I figured they should've renamed this competition Splatfest 2014...it was that bad!  Luckily by the end a few skaters were able to step up and save the competition from being a total waste of time.

Apparently Julia missed the ceremony...hmmm

Top Ladies 2014-2015 Season Preview

It's almost time!  It has been a long summer full of speculation, rumors and rehashing (as it always is) but the light at the end of the tunnel is rapidly approaching: the 2014-2015 season is upon us!  The top names of the last era are gone and as much as I'll miss them, I am super excited to see what this new crop of post-Sochi ladies can do.  Here's my speculation-filled preview of what the top ladies have in store for us this season.

Julia Lipnitskaya (RUS)

Can she win it all this year?

2014 Japan Open & JGP Pokal: Ladies Reviews

The season is gearing up!  Two more events to talk about this week. We saw the penultimate JGP event, JGP Pokal, as well as one of my favorite pre-season events, Japan Open.  I'll start with the ladies of Japan Open and then take a look at JGP Pokal.

2014 Japan Open

The overall final team result:

Off Season Fun: 2013-2014 Season Photo Album

And now, for the last bit Off Season Fun.  It's time for my second annual Season Photo Album.  Here are some of the pictures and moments from the past season:

Off Season Fun 2013-2014: Top 5 Favorites From the Past 4 Years (2010-2014)

Off Season Fun continues with me attempting the impossible! Okay, I'm exaggerating but still, attempting to condense four long years of skating down to only five favorite things per season wasn't an easy task.  So much has happened over the last quad but these are the things I will remember the most.

2010-2011 Season

1. Yu-Na Kim's "Homage to Korea" FS

2014 World Championships: Ladies Review

It has been one long exhausting season for everyone.  To be honest, I wasn't expecting to see good skating at this event but some of the world's best turned in some amazing performances to close out this Olympic season in style.

The 2014 World Championships medalists