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!

We'll Be the Judge of That: 2014 Sochi Olympics - Results

So this was a much more massive undertaking than I originally thought.  I'm not the Excel wiz I wish I were otherwise this might not have taken so long.  Regardless, it was still a fun project.  I'm not surprised with the outcome but I am surprised with some of the scores we came up with.

Let's see if our judges agreed with the standings

2016 Russian Test Skates

I always look forward to the test skate videos.  It's always good to have an idea of what's coming before it gets here, especially when it comes to the Russian women.  I saw a number of programs I liked, a few I didn't, and even some I'm on the fence about.

I Like!

Anna Pogorilaya

Off Season Fun 2015-2016: Fashion Review - Short Program

My Off Season Fun series is 5 years old! I can't believe I've managed to keep this going for that long.  Well here's to 5 more years!  This is my favorite way to waste time during the summer.  As usual, I'll kick things off with my Fashion Review.  First up, my favorite Short Program looks:

5. Maria Sotskova: "Black Magic Woman"

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

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 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 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 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:

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"

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"

2015-2016 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)

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)

2014-2015 Grand Prix Final & Junior Grand Prix Final: Ladies Review

The "regular season" of skating all comes down to this: the Final.  We saw two great competitions and lots of amazing skating in both the senior and junior ladies' events.  I'll take a look at the seniors first...

2014-2015 Grand Prix Final

No Russian sweep this year!

2014 Trophee Eric Bompard: Ladies Review

After last week's disappointing competition, I could hardly wait to see what the ladies at Trophee Eric Bompard had in store.  The level of competition was higher than last week but it wasn't the throw-down I expected it to be.

The Russians are back on top

Around the World in Skating: November 12, 2014

I haven't posted a single "Around the World in Skating" all season long.  With plenty going on this past week, now is as good a time as any.

Adelina Sotnikova Out of the GP Series