2010 Four Continents Championships: Mao Asada takes ladies title

Mao Asada from Japan came roaring back from third place after the short to win the free skate and the title at the 2010 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships in Jeonju, South Korea. I haven't seen her skate on YouTube yet, but from reviewing the judges' protocol, she successfully did her opening triple axel and got a slight downgrade on her second jump -- a triple axel, double toe combination. All other elements received positive Grades of Execution so she again proves that she will be a force to contend with at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. There's been some speculation whether the Yu-Na Kim-Mao Asada showdown is really on because it's only on when Mao's triple axel is on. I hope she's peaking just at the right time which will make the ladies event as exciting as the men's. The ladies short program begins on Tuesday, February 23. See complete Olympics figure skating schedule here.

Mao's Olympic teammate Akiko Suzuki came in second, and the U.S.'s Caroline Zhang and Amanda Dobbs came in third and fourth respectively. Complete results for the ladies are below. (Note: SP=Short Program and FS=Free Skate)

FPl	Name	Nation	Points	SP	FS
1	Mao ASADA	JPN	183.96	3	1
2	Akiko SUZUKI	JPN	173.72	1	2
3	Caroline ZHANG	USA	160.78	4	3
4	Amanda DOBBS	USA	158.23	2	5
5	Haruka IMAI	JPN	155.29	5	6
6	Min-Jung KWAK	KOR	154.71	7	4
7	Amelie LACOSTE	CAN	152.45	6	8
8	Myriane SAMSON	CAN	150.90	8	7
9	Alexe GILLES	USA	140.88	9	9
10	Diane SZMIETT	CAN	140.10	10	10
11	Anastasia GIMAZETDINOVA	UZB	134.15	11	11
12	Yan LIU	CHN	126.11	12	13
13	Chae-Hwa KIM	KOR	123.91	14	12
14	Cheltzie LEE	AUS	119.39	15	14
15	Na-Young KIM	KOR	109.46	13	17
16	Lejeanne MARAIS	RSA	103.03	19	15
17	Ana Cecilia CANTU	MEX	101.25	17	16
18	Crystal KIANG	TPE	96.16	16	19
19	Melinda WANG	TPE	95.50	20	18
20	Lauren KO	PHI	90.77	18	20
21	Binshu XU	CHN	FNR	21
22	Phoebe DI TOMMASO	AUS	FNR	22
23	Tamami ONO	HKG	FNR	23
24	Mericien VENZON	PHI	FNR	24
25	Sandra KHOPON	THA	FNR	25
26	Mary Ro REYES	MEX	FNR	26
27	Gracielle Jeanne TAN	PHI	FNR	27
28	Tiffany Packard YU	HKG	FNR	28
29	Abigail PIETERSEN	RSA	FNR	29
30	Chaochih LIU	TPE	FNR	30
31	Charissa TANSOMBOON	THA	FNR	31
32	Sarah PAW SI YING	SIN	FNR	32
33	Taryn JURGENSEN	THA	FNR	33
34	Priscila ALAVEZ	MEX	FNR	34
35	Elena RODRIGUES	BRA	FNR	35
36	Alessia BALDO	BRA	FNR	36
37	Tze Ching LEE	HKG	FNR	37
38	Simone PASTUSIAK	BRA	FNR	38

FNR=Final Not Reached

Nancy Kerrigan deals with loss of her father and arrest of brother

UPDATE THURSDAY: Lifeskate's footage of Nancy was featured this evening on The Insider nationally syndicated television show. Click below to see the full interview with Nancy.

By now I'm sure you've read that Nancy Kerrigan, two-time Olympic medalist and heroine from the Nancy-Tonya saga, is dealing with the tragic death of her father Daniel, 70, and subsequent arrest of her   brother Mark in the death. Details are still surfacing but it appears that on Monday, father and son were fighting over use of the telephone and the son grabbed the father's neck and a fight may have ensued. The father has now died and Brenda Kerrigan has told the police that her husband suffered a massive heart attack. I don't know if she's protecting her son but police have arrested Mark Kerrigan, 45, who they said appeared drunk and was belligerent. Mark has led a troubled life and the latest on this case is that he has been sent to Bridgewater State Hospital for a mental evaluation. Read complete story here. (Photo at right, Nancy opens rink at Bryant Park, NYC in October 2008)

I had a chance to interview Nancy in October 2008 when she was the honoree at Ice Theatre of New York's annual gala. When I heard the news of her family's tragedy, I immediately thought of that interview because she was very family-centric, and it came through in obvious and subtle ways too. When she gave her speech, she reminded everyone that she was never on the podium by herself because there was always a team of supporters surrounding her to make sure that she was skating to the best of her abilities. On a subtle level, off camera I mentioned that she must have her hands full with three children and she laughed and said she used her parents when she could because she was not a firm believer in nannies and outside help unless it was really necessary. And she mentioned how great and supportive her parents were and we kind of got off on this tangent about parents. But it was a natural conversation in that she really loved her parents and when you really love something/someone, it's easy to talk about it.

[UPDATE 01/28: Daniel Kerrigan's funeral was held today at St. Patrick's Church in Stoneham, Massachusetts. Full story here.]

Here's our interview and at 6:25, Nancy talks about family:

Our story about the Ice Theatre of New York gala honoring Nancy is below:

Johnny Weir changes mind about wearing fur

Wow, Johnny Weir is receiving death threats? The Associated Press reports that Johnny Weir will be changing his free skate costume for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics and replacing the fox trim with faux fur. His agent Tara Modlin advised that he was receiving "hate mail and death threats" from animal rights activists and he didn't want something like this to disrupt his preparations for the Olympics and even the Olympic experience itself. Read AP story here. In a statement also to icenetwork, Johnny wrote:

I hope these activists can understand that my decision to change my costume is in no way a victory for them, but a draw. I am not changing in order to appease them, but to protect my integrity and the integrity of the Olympic Games as well as my fellow competitors. Just weeks away from hitting my starting position on the ice in Vancouver, I have technique and training to worry about and that trumps any costume and any threat I may receive.

Read Johnny's full statement to icenetwork here.

Figure Skating in Harlem's Skating with the Stars set for April 5

FIGURE SKATING IN HARLEM'S 2010 SKATING WITH THE STARS BENEFIT GALA
SET FOR APRIL 5

Figure Skating in Harlem is pleased to announce the 2010 Skating With the Stars gala honoring Olympic Champion Kristi Yamaguchi. The sixth annual benefit will be held on Monday evening, April 5, 2010, from 6pm-9pm at Wollman Rink in Central Park, New York City. It promises to be another fun and delightful evening that raises critically-needed funds for Figure Skating in Harlem’s (FSH) pioneering youth development program.       

Tamara Tunie, star of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and FSH’s Chair Emerita, and FSH Board Chair Candace Matthews, Chief Marketing Officer, Amway, will also be honored at the gala. This star-studded event attracts celebrities such as Kelly Ripa, Vera Wang, Richie Rich, Carson Kressley, Kimberley Locke, Star Jones, and Kelly Rowland, as well as prominent business leaders, philanthropists, and skating and hockey fans.

Judy and Rod Gilbert, Tina and Terry Lundgren and Melania and Donald Trump will serve as this year’s Honorary Chairs. The Gala’s celebrity co-chairs include the cast of Law & Order: SVU (Christopher Meloni, Mariska Hargitay, Richard Belzer, Dann Florek, Stephanie March, Ice-T, and B. D. Wong). Lorraine Bracco, Countess LuAnn de Lesseps, Gloria Gaynor, Whoopi Goldberg, Cameron Mathison, Katharine McPhee, Phylicia Rashad, Rhonda Ross, and Ramona Singer are among the members of the 2010 Benefit Committee.

At this event, now in its sixth year, guests are offered the extraordinary opportunity to skate side by side with Kristi Yamaguchi and a spectacular roster of Olympic and World Medalists including Dorothy Hamill, Johnny Weir, Sarah Hughes, Sasha Cohen, Viktor Petrenko, Kimmie Meissner, Evan Lysacek (2009 World Men’s Figure Skating Champion), Timothy Goebel, Rachael Flatt (2010 US Women’s Figure Skating Champion), Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto, and Jeremy Abbott (2010 US Men's Figure Skating Champion).  Many of these athletes will be competing in the 2010 Winter Olympics this February.

As a special part of this Olympic edition, a number of hockey legends, including Rod Gilbert, Ron Greschner, Bret Hedican, Pat Hickey, Brad Park, Peter Simkowski, and Gil Villemure are also scheduled to be part of this year’s event. Tickets to the gala, which includes skating and dinner, start at $300 and are available by calling (212) 675-9474. Visit www.charitybuzz.com soon to find great auction items for bidding online.

Figure Skating in Harlem has served over 1,000 New York City girls since 1997 with an innovative education and ice-skating program that transforms young lives and helps Harlem girls grow in confidence, leadership and academic achievement. Proceeds from this benefit event will help FSH continue to grow and become an even stronger resource for children in the community. FSH also hopes to develop a base of support that will help them secure a home rink of their own with access to skating and educational facilities year-round in Upper Manhattan.

(Photo below, from Figure Skating in Harlem's 2009 Skating with the Stars, from left to right, Evan Lysacek, Tanith Belbin, Ben Agosto, Dorothy Hamill, Kimmie Meissner, Timothy Goebel and Todd Eldredge)

2010 Four Continents Championships: Dan Zhang and Hao Zhang win pairs

With the major championships -- U.S., Canada, Japanese, European -- over, I almost forgot that Four Continents is well underway in Jeonju, South Korea! (Four Continents is kind of the equivalent to the European Championships in that there is prize money involved but it's only open to non-European countries and by invitation only.) In any other year, Four Continents would be a relevant competition prior to the World Championships in mid-March, but this being an Olympic year, the A teams aren't necessarily competing. (Click here for U.S. entrants for Four Continents) In case you missed  the hubbub, this is the competition that South Korea's Yu-Na Kim declined to compete in, despite the urging of ISU President Ottavio Cinquanta. Yu-Na trains in Toronto and with the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics a few weeks away, specifically the ladies short program begins on February 23, she didn't want to travel to Korea and back and lose those valuable training days. Interestingly, Mao Asada and Akiko Suzuki, who are on the Olympic team, are at Four Continents but they don't have much of a commute from Japan.

So the pairs event is now concluded and I'm happy to see that Keauna McLaughlin and Rockne Brubaker have recovered from their disappointing fifth place finish at U.S. Nationals to take the silver. China's Dan Zhang and Hao Zhang (see right), who are competing in Vancouver, took the gold, and Canada's Meagan Duhamel and Craig Buntin from Canada took the bronze.

Complete results for pairs are below. (Note: SP=Short Program and FS=Free Skate)

FPl	Name	Nation	Points	SP	FS
1	Dan ZHANG / Hao ZHANG	CHN	192.22	1	1
2	Keauna MCLAUGHLIN / Rockne BRUBAKER	USA	170.17	2	2
3	Meagan DUHAMEL / Craig BUNTIN	CAN	158.02	3	4
4	Caitlin YANKOWSKAS / John COUGHLIN	USA	157.49	4	3
5	Narumi TAKAHASHI / Mervin TRAN	JPN	151.83	7	5
6	Yue ZHANG / Lei WANG	CHN	146.60	6	6
7	Mylene BRODEUR / John MATTATALL	CAN	146.318	5	7
8	Huibo DONG / Yiming WU	CHN	136.05	9	8
9	Kirsten MOORE-TOWERS / Dylan MOSCOVITCH	CAN	135.76	8	9
10	Marissa CASTELLI / Simon SHNAPIR	USA	128.91	10	10
11	Amanda SUNYOTO-YANG / Darryll SULINDRO-YANG	TPE	116.49	11	11