2018 National Championships Round-Up

I usually wait to post this round-up until the New Year but with U.S. nationals starting in a few days, I wanted to make sure to get this post up so I don't fall too far behind.  Several countries have already crowned their national champions for 2018, including Japan and Russia.  I'll take a quick look at the results from those events and give the results for a few other countries.

2018 Japanese National Championships

Four in a row for Tiny Queen

End of Grand Prix Power Rankings: 2017-2018

We've made it through the Grand Prix and the first half of the season.  Based off of what we've seen so far we have a decent idea of where everyone is as we head into nationals.  As usual, I will take a look at the top 10 ladies of the season so far and give an idea of what we can expect as we move into the second half of the season and the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics.

10. Kaori Sakamoto (JPN)

2017 Skate America: Review + Final Grand Prix Standings

I don't think I'd be out of line in saying that this event was cursed by the skating gods.  Thankfully, some good came out of it for a few people.

Tiny Queen back on top!

2017 NHK Trophy: Review

We're into the second half of the Grand Prix season.  Most skaters are on their second event but we still had a few late debuts at this event. 

New meets old

2017 Junior World Championships: Review

Okay, so...yeah.  This was not what I expected at all but I can't say I'm disappointed.

Not the podium I was expecting but yay!

2017 Junior World Championships: Preview

The junior season is SO long!  It started way back in August of 2016 and will finally wrap up at the Junior World Championships which will take place in Taipei City on March 15-19.  As usual the major battle for the podium will be between Russia and Japan but there are a few others who could shake things up.

Team Russia

Alina Zagitova, Polina Tsurskaya, Stanislava Konstantinova

L to R: Tsurskaya, Zagitova, Konstantinova

2016 Japan Open + 2016 Tallinn Cup + 2016 Autumn International Classic + 2016 Ondrej Nepela: Reviews

Oh boy, here we go!  This was a massively busy week in the skating world.  Four competitions!  I'll take a look at Japan Open, JGP Tallinn Cup, the Autumn International Classic and Ondrej Nepela Memorial.

2016 Japan Open

Japan Open is a bit of cheesefest that doesn't really count for anything, but it is a competition that gives us a sneak peek at where some of the bigger names are just a few weeks before the start of the Grand Prix season.  (Side note: It was super-weird not seeing Mao Asada here...)

Team Japan is still #1

2016 JGP Cup of Mordovia + 2016 U.S. International Classic: Ladies Review

With two competition series going on there's plenty to cover.  This week was JGP Cup of Mordovia and the second event of the ISU Challenger series, U.S. International Classic.

JGP Cup of Mordovia

2016 Junior World Championships: Ladies Review

I was geared up for this to be a pretty decent Russia vs. Japan competition.  Thanks to not one but two freak accidents in two days, this ended up not being the match I was expecting.

The Russian streak has been broken!

2016 National Championships Round-Up

Happy New Year everyone!  While most of us were on a holiday hiatus, these skaters were not. A number of national championship battles were fought and won over the past few weeks.  Here's my nationals round-up...

2016 Russian National Championships

A new Russian queen is crowned

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 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: