Caydee Denney and Jeremy Barrett end partnership

Press release from USFSA.org:

2010 U.S. Pairs Champions Denney and Barrett End Partnership
--Barrett retiring from competitive skating; Denney looking for new partner--

(2/24/11) - Caydee Denney and Jeremy Barrett, who represented the United States in pairs at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, British Columbia, announced today they have ended their three-year partnership.

Denney and Barrett's competitive career began in 2008 and includes three medals at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships: silver in 2009, gold in 2010 and bronze in 2011. The team finished 13th at the 2010 Olympic Games and followed that with a seventh-place finish at the 2010 World Figure Skating Championships in Torino, Italy.

Their best finish in the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series was fourth, which they accomplished twice, once at the 2009 NHK Trophy and again at 2010 Skate America.

"We are thankful to all our coaches and their contributions to our success," Denney said. "We have been blessed to have such an amazing journey."

Denney plans to continue her skating career.

"I feel I'm just starting to scratch the surface when it comes to what I'm capable of," Denney said. "My goal is to find a new partner and begin competing again by next season."

"Caydee was such a good partner," Barrett said. "I know she will be successful in whatever she decides to do."

Barrett intends to stay active in skating by coaching and performing in shows.

"I feel happy with everything that I have accomplished," Barrett said. "I look forward to giving back to the sport that has given so much to me."

Kelly Ripa of Live with Regis and Kelly to produce season 2 of Be Good Johnny Weir

• Kelly Ripa (Live with Regis and Kelly) and hubby Mark Consuelos (soap hunk on All My Children) producing Be Good Johnny Weir season 2. [Disney Dreaming]

• Tatiana Tarasova's strange advice to Mao Asada. [Chosun Ilbo]

• Olympic gold is a launch pad for Evan Lysacek. [Globe & Mail]

• Tonya Harding gives birth to baby boy! [FoxSports]

• Best Sportsperson of the Competition at Four Continents goes to Rudi Swiegers. [CBC Sports]

• Lucinda Ruh's autobiography Frozen Teardrop: The Tragedy And Triumph Of Figure Skating's Queen Of Spin comes out in August. [Greenwich Citizen]

• Joannie Rochette (at right) on the one year anniversary of her mother's death and a possible 2014 Sochi Olympics. [Universal Sports]

• Tomas Verner skated at WHOSE birthday party!?! [Prague Daily Monitor]

• Chinese Skating Association reveals their skaters are too young to compete and they don't know how this error happened. They will consult with the Chinese Gymnastics Bureau. [Global Times]

• Four Continents reflections on the top skaters. [Aunt Joyce's Ice Cream Stand]

• Watch Caryn Kadavy, Kimmie Meissner, Urbanski and Marvel, Lang and Tchernyshev and more skate at Caesar's Palace in Atlantic City. [StarGames]

Michael Weiss on the state of men's figure skating (video)

I caught up with Michael Weiss, three-time US national champion and two-time World bronze medalist, at Rockefeller Rink in NYC in late January. Michael was there to skate an ensemble number with some of the cast members from Stars On Ice, including Evan Lysacek, Ekaterina Gordeeva, Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto. We chatted about the state of men's figure skating as well as his long-running participation in Stars On Ice. Michael has been keeping busy with his own projects, including the Michael Weiss Foundation, which awards funds to up-and-coming skaters in need of financial assistance (Mirai Nagasu and 2011 US silver medalist Richard Dornbush are past recipients) and guest-starring in various skating specials. Can't wait to catch the entire show when the tour hits East Rutherford, New Jersey on April 2! (see tour schedule here)

2011 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships results

The top 10 results for mens, ladies, pairs and ice dancing at the 2011 ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships are below.

FOR THE MEN:

FPl	Name	Nation	Points	SP	FS
1	Daisuke TAKAHASHI	JPN	244.00	1	1
2	Yuzuru HANYU	JPN	228.01	3	3
3	Jeremy ABBOTT	USA	225.71	2	4
4	Takahiko KOZUKA	JPN	223.52	6	2
5	Adam RIPPON	USA	210.01	4	5
6	Jinlin GUAN	CHN	201.98	9	6
7	Armin MAHBANOOZADEH	USA	200.67	5	9
8	Jialiang WU	CHN	199.78	10	7
9	Nan SONG	CHN	195.13	12	8
10	Shawn SAWYER	CAN	192.94	7	10

FOR THE LADIES:

FPl	Name	Nation	Points	SP	FS
1	Miki ANDO	JPN	201.34	1	1
2	Mao ASADA	JPN	196.30	2	2
3	Mirai NAGASU	USA	189.46	4	3
4	Rachael FLATT	USA	180.31	3	4
5	Alissa CZISNY	USA	168.81	5	5
6	Cynthia PHANEUF	CAN	163.14	7	6
7	Akiko SUZUKI	JPN	162.59	6	7
8	Min-Jeong KWAK	KOR	147.15	8	8
9	Amelie LACOSTE	CAN	137.48	9	9
10	Cheltzie LEE	AUS	127.90	10	10

FOR PAIRS:

FPl	Name	Nation	Points	SP	FS
1	Qing PANG / Jian TONG	CHN	199.45	1	1
2	Meagan DUHAMEL / Eric RADFORD	CAN	181.79	3	2
3	Paige LAWRENCE / Rudi SWIEGERS	CAN	171.73	2	4
4	Caitlin YANKOWSKAS / John COUGHLIN	USA	166.97	4	5
5	Kirsten MOORE-TOWERS / Dylan MOSCOVITCH	CAN	166.22	5	3
6	Amanda EVORA / Mark LADWIG	USA	157.30	6	6
7	Narumi TAKAHASHI / Mervin TRAN	JPN	152.63	8	7
8	Mary Beth MARLEY / Rockne BRUBAKER	USA	144.46	10	8
9	Yue ZHANG / Lei WANG	CHN	138.93	7	10
10	Huibo DONG / Yiming WU	CHN	135.10	9	9

FOR ICE DANCING:

FPl	Name	Nation	Points	SD	FD
1	Meryl DAVIS / Charlie WHITE	USA	172.03	2	1
2	Maia SHIBUTANI / Alex SHIBUTANI	USA	155.38	4	2
3	Vanessa CRONE / Paul POIRIER	CAN	151.83	5	3
4	Kaitlyn WEAVER / Andrew POJE	CAN	151.14	3	4
5	Madison CHOCK / Greg ZUERLEIN	USA	142.44	6	5
6	Xintong HUANG / Xun ZHENG	CHN	130.29	7	6
7	Xiaoyang YU / Chen WANG	CHN	125.75	8	7
8	Xueting GUAN / Meng WANG	CHN	106.26	9	8
9	Danielle OBRIEN / Gregory MERRIMAN	AUS	104.69	10	9
10	Corenne BRUHNS / Benjamin WESTENBERGER	MEX	88.55	11	10

NOTE: Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir were leading after the short dance. In the middle of their free dance, the team withdrew due to Tessa's injury. Read story here.

Ekaterina Gordeeva joins 25th anniversary tour of Stars On Ice (video)

Here's an update on one of my favorite skaters -- Ekaterina "Katia" Gordeeva, who was at Rockefeller Center Skating Rink promoting the 25th anniversary tour of Stars On Ice. After winning two Olympic pairs titles in 1988 and 1994, she and partner/husband Sergei Grinkov continued their professional touring before Sergei died of a massive heart attack in 1995 at age 28. Katia then raised their daughter Daria as a single mom, began performing as a solo artist, and in 2002, married Ilia Kulik, 1998 Olympic men's figure skating champion. Katia and Ilia have a daughter Liza who is nine. Katia said that Daria is now applying to colleges(!) and she is enjoying every moment of familytime since she'll likely go away for college. Doesn't time fly? Katia will turn 40 in May but watching her skate transports you to the 1990s all over again - she is a timeless skater and an icon in the skating community.