Sarah Hughes, Johnny Weir, Evan Lysacek at Figure Skating in Harlem benefit

What an amazing evening last night at Wollman Rink in Central Park, NYC! Figure Skating in Harlem (FSH), a not-for-profit program that combines academics with ice skating for girls in the Harlem community, held their annual fundraiser benefit called Skating with the Stars. The honorees this year were 2002 Olympic champion Sarah Hughes and Terry and Tina Lundgren. Terry is the CEO is Macy's and Tina is on the advisory board of FSH as well as a world skating judge. All three are long-time supporters of FSH and have helped FSH founder Sharon Cohen and her staff raise lots of money for the girls.

On hand to lend their support to this worthy organization -- Johnny Weir, Evan Lysacek, Sasha Cohen, Todd Eldredge, Joannie Rochette, Adam Rippon, Fumie Suguri, Jeremy Abbott, Tanith Belbin & Ben Agosto, Timothy Goebel, Emily Hughes, Nastia Liukin, Lucinda Ruh, Vera Wang, Kenneth Cole, Ramona Singer (from Real Housewives of NYC), fashion designer Chris Benz, Donald and Melania Trump, and the list goes on. Interviews with skaters coming up! (Photo above, honoree Sarah Hughes with FSH girls, photo below, Johnny Weir)

Emily Hughes reflects on her comeback (video)

Here's my interview with the always charming Emily Hughes at the 2010 Figure Skating in Harlem benefit in NYC. (Photo above, Emily and sister Sarah Hughes attend 2010 Figure Skating in Harlem benefit)

Skating world luminaries turned out for Figure Skating in Harlem's Skating with the Stars: Photo gallery

Some of the America's top skaters laced up and took to the ice tonight to support a great cause, Figure Skating in Harlem, and we were there in New York's Central Park. What a gorgeous day it was, too, with temperatures in the low 70s, crystal-clear skies and hundreds of donors coming out to skate with the stars.

So many pictures and so much video to process in the coming days, but here is a sample, with candid snapshots of Kristi Yamaguchi, Johnny Weir, Mirai Nagasu, Jeremy Abbott, Tanith Belbin, Ben Agosto, Sasha Cohen (see above), Meryl Davis, Charlie White, and Emily and Sarah Hughes. Click here to see the slideshow.

Come back later in the week for much more, including a very amusing photo of Johnny Weir with Donald Trump (Part 2 of photo gallery).

Emily Hughes skates for the Today show: Photo gallery

Yesterday morning, the Today show held it's first Today at the Rink segment for the winter season and much to my delight, Emily Hughes was the skater on hand to celebrate the new season at Rockefeller Center Skating Rink. Emily is a 2006 Olympian and 2007 U.S. silver medalist (and younger sister of 2002 Olympic champion Sarah Hughes) and is making somewhat of a comeback this season after being sidelined for most of last season with injuries. She's currently a student at Harvard University but took a leave of absence to give it her all to try and once again make the Olympic team. I like that she is trying to manage school and skating at the same time and that in every interview, she is very even-keeled and modest about her success. Maybe it's her parents' influence -- I met her mother Amy at a fundraiser last year and I got the same "niceness" vibe from her. (link to story)

Emily seems to be the skater of choice for the Today show -- last year, she also was the first skater they showcased for the Today at the Rink series. Last year, I loved her skate to Celine Dion's Taking Chances. (link to her skate). Yesterday, she skated to the duet version of One with Bono, U2 and Mary J. Blige. Emily  was very expressive (as usual) and she looked great, very fit. Although she reeled off a great double axel, a beautiful layback spin and spirals, I'm always floored by her Russian splits. You never realized how high they go and how stretched out they are unless you see it really close up (see above). I didn't have a chance to videotape her performance, but some nice viewer has uploaded it on YouTube. I did manage to take some photos so here they are and enjoy!

Emily Hughes withdraws from 2009 U.S. Figure Skating Championships

Oh no! First Kimmie Meissner, now Emily Hughes? Emily cited ankle injury as her reason for withdrawal and stated, "I just don't have enough strength in my ankle to perform my programs. I plan to resume training when my ankle heals and to compete again as soon as possible." Read full story here.

This reminds me of Johnny Weir's press conference where he noted, "And to compete in this system, you have to be prepared to run a marathon every day and you have to be so in shape and on point at all times to actually make it from the start of the program to the end of the program. So it's no shock to me that people are getting injured or people are getting sick." I just hope one of my favorites, Alissa Czisny, remains injury-free for Nationals.