Yu-Na Kim wins short program at 2009 Four Continents with record score

Yu-Na Kim of South Korea has scored 72.24 points for her short program at the 2009 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships! That is an international record and can I assume she will win the title? What a lead going into the free skate on Friday. Canada's Joannie Rochette is second with 66.90 points and her compatriot Cynthia Phaneuf sits in third with 60.98 points. A huge surprise and disappointment for reigning world champion from Japan Mao Asada, Yu-Na's main rival. Mao's in sixth place with 57.86 points after doubling her triple Lutz and scoring Level 2s on some of her spins. The U.S. ladies are in fifth, seventh and eighth place. There were 35 ladies competing in the short so what a great day for the skating fan -- five hours of watching short programs! But only the top 24 will advance to the free skate on Friday.

There's still lots of skating left to go. I'll be watching on icenetwork and today, the schedule is:

• 2:00 p.m. ET Original Dance
• 4:35 p.m. ET Pairs Free Skate
• 6:45 p.m. ET Pairs Awards Ceremony
• 7:30 p.m. ET Men's Short Program

Current standings for the ladies after the short are below. Note: SP=Short Program and FS=Free Skate

Rank	Competitor	Nation	SP	FS	Points
1	Yu-Na KIM	KOR	1		72.24
2	Joannie ROCHETTE	CAN	2		66.90
3	Cynthia PHANEUF	CAN	3		60.98
4	Fumie SUGURI	JPN	4		60.18
5	Caroline ZHANG	USA	5		58.16
6	Mao ASADA	JPN	6		57.86
7	Alissa CZISNY	USA	7		55.62
8	Rachael FLATT	USA	8		55.44
9	Akiko SUZUKI	JPN	9		55.40
10	Amélie LACOSTE	CAN	10		49.78
11	Binshu XU	CHN	11		48.38
12	Yan LIU	CHN	12		47.60
13	Anastasia GIMAZETDINOVA	UZB	13		46.22
14	Ana Cecilia CANTU	MEX	14		44.82
15	Cheltzie LEE	AUS	15		43.96
16	Na-Young KIM	KOR	16		43.94
17	Hyeon-Jung KIM	KOR	17		41.64
18	Tina WANG	AUS	18		37.64
19	Chaochih LIU	TPE	19		37.20
20	Michele CANTU	MEX	20		37.16
21	Yueren WANG	CHN	21		34.38
22	Gracielle Jeanne TAN	PHI	22		34.02
23	Loretta HAMUI	MEX	23		33.84
24	Tamami ONO	HKG	24		33.80
25	Crystal KIANG	TPE	25		32.52
26	Melinda WANG	TPE	26		31.64
27	Charissa TANSOMBOON	THA	27		31.58
28	Lejeanne MARAIS	RSA	28		31.32
29	Mary Grace BALDO	PHI	29		29.18
30	Jessica KURZAWSKI	AUS	30		28.94
31	Elizabeth STERN	PHI	31		27.58
32	Abigail PIETERSEN	RSA	32		27.32
33	Alessia BALDO	BRA	33		26.36
34	Stacy PERFETTI	BRA	34		24.44
35	Kristine Y. LEE	HKG	35		23.76
W/D	Megan ALLELY	RSA

Pang and Tong lead pairs at 2009 Four Continents

The 2009 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships continue with the pairs short program. What a tight race between China's Qing Pang and Jian Tong, who are sitting in first place with 65.60 points, and Canada's Jessica Dube and Bryce Davison, who are second with 64.36 points. (That's only 1.24 points separating first and second place.) And close behind are Dan Zhang and Hao Zhang from China with 63.20 points and Meagan Duhamel and Craig Buntin from Canada with 62.08 points.

The pairs competition concludes tomorrow with the free skate.

Standings after the short program are below. Note: SP=Short Program and FS=Free Skate

Rank	Competitors	Nation	SP	FS	Points
1	Qing PANG / Jian TONG	CHN	65.60		65.60
2	Jessica DUBE / Bryce DAVISON	CAN	64.36		64.36
3	Dan ZHANG / Hao ZHANG	CHN	63.20		63.20
4	Meagan DUHAMEL / Craig BUNTIN	CAN	62.08		62.08
5	Rena INOUE / John BALDWIN	USA	56.78		56.78
6	Mylene BRODEUR / John MATTATALL	CAN	55.16		55.16
7	Keauna McLAUGHLIN / Rockne BRUBAKER	USA	54.16		54.16
8	Caydee DENNEY / Jeremy BARRETT	USA	53.60		53.60
9	Huibo DONG / Yiming WU	CHN	52.40		52.40
10	Amanda SUNYOTO-YANG / Darryll SULINDRO-YANG	TPE	43.38		43.38
11	Marina AGANINA / Dmitri ZOBNIN	UZB	36.88		36.88

Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir win compulsory dance at 2009 Four Continents

The 2009 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships began today with ice dance. The compulsory dance is the Finnstep and I've never actually seen the dance until now. It's very...peppy, cheerful and whimsical, like a happy dance! As expected, the United States' Meryl Davis and Charlie White are in head-to-head competition with Canada's Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir. Although Tessa had a slight misstep in the middle, she and Scott won the dance with 36.40 points. But Meryl and Charlie are only behind by 1.17 points, so tomorrow's original dance should be very exciting.

Standings after the compulsory dance are below. (Note: CD=Segment Score for Compulsory Dance, OD=Original Dance and FD=Free Dance.)

Rank	Competitors	Nation	CD	OD	FD	Points
1	Tessa VIRTUE / Scott MOIR	CAN	36.40			36.40
2	Meryl DAVIS / Charlie WHITE	USA	35.23			35.23
3	Vanessa CRONE / Paul POIRIER	CAN	32.43			32.43
4	Emily SAMUELSON / Evan BATES	USA	31.41			31.41
5	Kaitlyn WEAVER / Andrew POJE	CAN	30.62			30.62
6	Kimberly NAVARRO / Brent BOMMENTRE	USA	30.59			30.59
7	Xintong HUANG / Xun ZHENG	CHN	27.56			27.56
8	Xiaoyang YU / Chen WANG	CHN	24.65			24.65
9	Jiayue WANG / Chongbo GAO	CHN	23.31			23.31
10	Danielle OBRIEN / Gregory MERRIMAN	AUS	19.70			19.70
11	Maria BOROUNOV / Evgeni BOROUNOV	AUS	17.51			17.51
W/D	Cathy REED / Chris REED	JPN

2009 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships: Schedule

Here is icenetwork's live video schedule for the upcoming 2009 ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships in Vancouver, Canada. Wow - the men's free skate is pretty darn early, compared to the ladies.

Note: All times Eastern

WEDNESDAY, February 4

• 4:00 p.m. Compulsory Dance
• 6:15 p.m. Pairs Short Program
• 8:30 p.m. Opening Ceremony
• 9:15 p.m. Ladies Short Program

THURSDAY, February 5

• 2:00 p.m. Original Dance
• 4:35 p.m. Pairs Free Skate
• 6:45 p.m. Pairs Awards Ceremony
• 7:30 p.m. Men's Short Program

FRIDAY, February 6

• 4:45 p.m. Free Dance
• 7:35 p.m. Dance Awards Ceremony
• 9:00 p.m. Ladies Free Skate
• 12:50 a.m. Ladies Awards Ceremony

SATURDAY, February 7

• 1:45 p.m. Men's Free Skate
• 5:45 p.m. Men's Awards Ceremony

SUNDAY, February 8

• 3:00 p.m. Gala Exhibition

If you're not an icenetwork subscriber, thanks to reader Margaret, she has advised that the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) is providing free, live streaming of Four Continents (and Worlds too by the way). Here's the CBC link: http://www.cbc.ca/sports/figureskating/

**CLICK HERE TO SEE RESULTS FROM 2009 FOUR CONTINENTS!**

2009 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships begin Wednesday in Vancouver

The 2009 ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships begin Wednesday in Vancouver, Canada. This is an ISU-sanctioned event that's been held since 1999 and allows skaters from the four continents (the Americas (counted as one), Asia, Africa and Australia) to compete for prize money. Each country is allowed to send three skaters or teams to Four Continents and there are some great matchups ahead.

For the men, I'm looking forward to seeing Canada's Patrick Chan and the U.S.'s Jeremy Abbott go head-to-head. Both are known to be in a field of their own in terms of their artistry and it'll be interesting to see how they're judged. Patrick imploded at the Grand Prix Final (which Jeremy won) and finished fifth overall but I'm hoping that he's at the top of his game so that we can truly see the matchup that was meant to be. But also in the mix for the men are Japan's Nobunari Oda and Takahiko Kozuka. Nobunari won his only Grand Prix assignment (NHK Trophy) and also won the Japanese nationals, so who knows if he's the man to beat. Here's an outside prediction from my friend who watched the U.S. nationals men's final with me -- she's convinced Brandon Mroz will surprise everyone and take the title. I'm not as confident as she is because she hasn't seen Patrick, Nobunari and Takahiko when they're at their best.

For the ladies, the U.S. is sending Alissa Czisny, Rachael Flatt and Caroline Zhang -- a pretty strong field. But how will they stack up against Japan's Mao Asada and Fumie Suguri? How about South Korea's Yu-Na Kim and Canada's Joannie Rochette? Many have already given the gold and silver to Mao and Yu-Na so is this a fight for the bronze? Not if Alissa can help it. I think she wants to prove that her win in Cleveland was not a "present" from the judges or a fluke, and that she can compete with the likes of Mao and Yu-Na. It'll be an exciting ladies event for sure and if confident and technically sound Alissa shows up, there may be a new world order soon.

In pairs, the fairy tale continues for the U.S.'s Caydee Denney and Jeremy Barrett. Joining them will be nationals champions Keauna McLaughlin and Rockne Brubaker as well as Rena Inoue and John Baldwin. This is a very packed field as well, with China's Qing Pang and Jian Tong, and Dan Zhang and Dan Zhang vying for the title. They won gold and silver, respectively, at last year's Four Continents and they're looking very strong this season winning their Grand Prix assignments, and Pang and Tong also winning the Grand Prix Final. Canada also has three strong teams entered in pairs: Mylene Brodeur and John Mattatall (replacing 2008 Canadian Pair Champions Anabelle Langlois and Cody Hay who withdraw due to injury), Jessica Dube and Bryce Davison and Meagan Duhamel and Craig Buntin.

Finally, in ice dance, it's going to be a real contest between Canada's Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir and the U.S.'s Meryl Davis and Charlie White. Tessa and Scott came back to competing recently after Tessa had surgery on her leg. They won the Canadian nationals handily but haven't been tested elsewhere so this is a great matchup between them and Meryl and Charlie. Also in the event are Canada's Vanessa Crone and Paul Poirier and Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje. The U.S. has also entered Emily Samuelson and Evan Bates, and Kimberly Navarro and Brent Bommentre.

You can find the list of competitors in all disciplines from all countries here.

**CLICK HERE TO SEE RESULTS FROM 2009 FOUR CONTINENTS!**