Jeremy Abbott skates at Rockefeller Rink for the Today show

In case you missed it this morning, two-time U.S. national champion Jeremy Abbott skated at Rockefeller Rink for the Today show. He did his exhibition program to At this Moment (original by Billy Vera and the Beaters) sung by Michael Bublé.

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US men and pair teams going to Olympics, Worlds and Four Continents

With the U.S. mens and pairs events concluded at the 2010 AT&T U.S. Figure Skating Championships, U.S. Figure Skating has announced the skaters going to the Olympics (February 12-28 in Vancouver, B.C.), World Figure Skating Championships (March 22-28 in Torino, Italy), World Junior Championships (March 8-14 in The Hague, Netherlands) and Four Continents Championships (January 25-31 in Jeonju City, South Korea).

Of note, John Baldwin and Rena Inoue, who won the bronze in pairs, turned down the opportunity to compete in Worlds. The combined placement of the skaters at Worlds determines how many spots a country receives for the next Worlds. "You want to use us (at Worlds) to help you save a spot because you don't think the other team (Evora and Ladwig) are good enough to keep that other spot," Baldwin said he told a U.S. Figure Skating official in turning down the Worlds position. Read complete story here.

2010 Olympic Winter Games Men's Nominations to the USOC
Jeremy Abbott
Evan Lysacek
Johnny Weir
Alternate No. 1 - Ryan Bradley
Alternate No. 2 - Adam Rippon
Alternate No. 3 - Brandon Mroz

2010 U.S. World Men's Figure Skating Team
Jeremy Abbott
Evan Lysacek
Johnny Weir
Alternate No. 1 - Ryan Bradley
Alternate No. 2 - Adam Rippon
Alternate No. 3 - Brandon Mroz

2010 U.S. Four Continents Men's Figure Skating Team
Ryan Bradley
Brandon Mroz
Adam Rippon
Alternate No. 1 - Armin Mahbanoozadeh
Alternate No. 2 - Douglas Razzano
Alternate No. 3 - Alex Johnson

2010 U.S. World Junior Men's Figure Skating Team
Grant Hochstein
Armin Mahbanoozadeh
Ross Miner
Alternate No. 1 - Keegan Messing
Alternate No. 2 - Richard Dornbush
Alternate No. 3 - Jason Brown

2010 Olympic Winter Games Pairs Nominations to the USOC
Caydee Denney and Jeremy Barrett
Amanda Evora and Mark Ladwig
Alternate No. 1 - Rena Inoue and John Baldwin
Alternate No. 2 - Keauna McLaughlin and Rockne Brubaker
Alternate No. 3 - Brooke Castile and Ben Okolski

2010 U.S. World Pairs Team
Caydee Denney and Jeremy Barrett
Amanda Evora and Mark Ladwig
Alternate No. 1 - Keauna McLaughlin and Rockne Brubaker
Alternate No. 2 - Brooke Castile and Ben Okolski
Alternate No. 3 - Caitlin Yankowskas and John Coughlin
Alternate No. 4 - Amanda Dobbs and Joseph Jacobsen

2010 U.S. Four Continents Pairs Team
Brooke Castile and Ben Okolski
Keauna McLaughlin and Rockne Brubaker
Caitlin Yankowskas and John Coughlin
Alternate No. 1 - Marissa Castelli and Simon Shnapir
Alternate No. 2 - Andrea Best and Trevor Young

2010 US Figure Skating Championships: Jeremy Abbott clinches the senior men's title

Jeremy Abbott dreamed of his perfect free skate when he was four years old. At last year's US Nationals where he won, he was ecstatic but knew that the program had the little errors here and there that made it not the "dream program." Well, his dream came true tonight at the 2010 AT&T U.S Figure Skating Championships in Spokane, Washington. Whereas Evan Lysacek fell in his quad attempt and doubled his triple loop, and Johnny Weir singled his triple axel and stepped out of his triple Lutz - triple toe combination, Jeremy didn't make a single jumping error and was completely in his own world, maybe in his own dream! (Photo at right, courtesy of Michelle Harvath of icenetwork.com and photosonice.com)

After landing cleanly the quad, triple flip and triple axel - triple toeloop, the audience knew that he was telling them, "I'm here to win Nationals the way I dreamt it." When he then completed the jumping pass of triple Lutz - double axel - double toe, soared through the triple loop and triple salchow and showed us artistically why he is like no one else, the audience just went crazy. Domination is not too strong of a word. Afterwards, he told Andrea Joyce of NBC that this was "my first Nationals title, for real." 

The U.S. can send three men to the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics and there's no doubt they will be Jeremy, Evan and Johnny. A heartbreak for Ryan Bradley who had the second best free skate of the night but couldn't rack up enough points to make up for his short program, where he placed fourth.

Here are the final cumulative results posted below (SP= short program and FS= free skate) as well as the results for the free skate (T= technical elements and P= program components). Note: Stephen Carriere was forced to withdraw after the short program due to an injury. Following the results is a slideshow and video interview with Jeremy from earlier this year (after he won his first Nationals title).

Final standings

Rank	Name	SP	FS	Points
1	Jeremy Abbott, Detroit SC	87.85	175.81	263.66
2	Evan Lysacek, DuPage FSC	83.69	154.94	238.63
3	Johnny Weir, SC of New York Inc	83.51	148.58	232.09
4	Ryan Bradley, Broadmoor SC	70.63	155.34	225.97
5	Adam Rippon, SC of New York Inc	72.91	152.16	225.07
6	Brandon Mroz, Broadmoor SC	64.45	136.82	201.27
7	Grant Hochstein, St Clair Shores FSC	65.55	127.18	192.73
8	Armin Mahbanoozadeh, Washington FSC	72.56	118.42	190.98
9	Keegan Messing, Alaska Assoc of Figure Skaters	63.38	126.97	190.35
10	Jason Wong, Skating Club of Boston	64.56	121.90	186.46
11	Richard Dornbush, All Year FSC	65.79	118.49	184.28
12	Jonathan Cassar, Detroit SC	55.53	126.70	182.23
13	Tommy Steenberg, SC of Northern Virginia	59.17	120.04	179.20
14	Dennis Phan, All Year FSC	62.51	113.46	175.97
15	Douglas Razzano, Coyotes SC of Arizona	64.27	110.77	175.04
16	Parker Pennington, Winterhurst FSC	61.58	111.45	173.03
17	Alexander Johnson, Braemar-City of Lakes FSC	54.29	114.00	168.29
18	Andrew Gonzales, All Year FSC	62.38	104.87	167.25
19	Shaun Rogers, SC of Wilmington Inc	58.62	106.38	165.00
20	Michael Solonoski, SC of New York Inc	55.26	95.50	150.76
21	Wesley Campbell, Nashville FSC	55.98	90.98	146.96
22	Daniel Raad, Park FSC	49.32	78.06	127.38

Free skate results

1. Jeremy Abbott: 89.75 (T), 86.06 (P), total 175.81
2. Evan Lysacek: 74.28 (T),81.66 (P), with 1 deduction, total 154.94
3. Ryan Bradley: 81.20 (T), 74.14 (P), total 155.34
4. Adam Rippon: 79.38 (T), 72.72 (P), total 152.16
5. Johnny Weir: 71.24 (T), 77.34 (P), total 148.58
6. Brandon Mroz: 73.40 (T), 63.42 (P), total 136.82
7. Grant Hochstein: 64.76 (T), 63.42 (P), with 1 deduction, total 127.18
8. Keegan Messing: 66.67 (T), 60.30 (P), total 126.97
9. Jonathan Cassar: 61.56 (T), 66.14 (P), with 1 deduction, total 126.70
10. Jason Wong: 61.00 (T), 60.90 (P), total 121.90
11. Tommy Steenberg: 57.90 (T), 62.14 (P), total 120.04



12. Richard Dornbush: 61.27 (T), 58.22 (P), with 1 deduction, total 118.49
13. Armin Mahbanoozadeh: 58.00 (T), 62.42 (P), with 2 deductions, total 118.42
14. Alexander Johnson: 58.86 (T), 56.14 (P), with 1 deduction, total 114.00
15. Dennis Phan: 55.30 (T), 58.16 (P), total 113.46
16. Parker Pennington: 54.33 (T), 59.12 (P), with 2 deductions, total 111.45
17. Douglas Razzano: 55.85 (T), 55.92 (P), with 1 deduction, total 110.77
18. Shaun Rogers: 59.14 (T), 47.24 (P), total 106.38
19. Andrew Gonzales: 53.79 (T), 51.08 (P), total 104.87
20. Michael Solonoski: 48.36 (T), 47.14 (P), total 95.50
21. Wesley Campbell, 40.20 (T), 52.78 (P), with 2 deductions, total 90.98
22. Daniel Raad: 39.64 (T), 39.42 (P), with 1 deduction, total 78.06

NEW! Post-Nationals interview with Johnny Weir in NYC on January 20:

2010 US Figure Skating Championships: Vote for your choice on how the senior men will be decided

Looks like the vox pop isn't always the most accurate predictor of the future (actual results are here).

Thanks to everyone who voted in this snap poll. And the final results are.

Jeremy Abbott and 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics: Goal is quad and Olympic team

The United States Olympic Committee’s (USOC) Making Team USA Teleconference Series began yesterday with Ashley Wagner, Tanith Belbin, Ben Agosto, Jeremy Abbott, Keauna McLaughlin, Rockne Brubaker, Meryl Davis and Charlie White. The AT&T U.S. Figure Skating Championships begin next week (January 14-24) in Spokane, Washington.

Below are excerpts from Jeremy Abbott's teleconference. This season, Jeremy won Skate Canada, came in fifth at the NHK Trophy and came in fourth at the Grand Prix Final. He is also the defending U.S. national champion. He started the teleconference with an update on what he's been doing since the Grand Prix Final last month and leading up to Nationals.

Jeremy: After each competition I've been coming back to Detroit with Yuka [Sato] and Jason [Dungjen] and we've been analyzing the outcome, how things went, what things need to improve. From the Grand Prix Final, I got a little bit of rest just to keep my body fresh and to keep my mind fresh this season because as most everyone knows, last season, I got burnt out towards the end and it didn't turn out quite as planned or expected. So we really wanna keep my body going and keep everything really strong and fresh through this season. So after a small break, we came back and really evaluated how the whole season's gone so far and what the goals are for the US Championships and hopefully Olympics and Worlds. And just really been working on the programs very hard and make sure that they're very solid and secure so that I'm very confident in them.

You put in the quad in the long program at the Grand Prix Final. Are you planning on doing that again for US Nationals?

The goal this season was to put the quad in all the competitions, just so that I'm very secure in it by the time Nationals, Olympics and Worlds rolls around. It's been very consistent in practice and I feel very confident in this jump. It may not be necessary because the past two World champions have won without a quad. But I feel very strongly in the need to do it this season. It's something that Yuka, Jason and I feel very strongly about. It's a solid jump for me and with everything else that I have in my program, I feel that it puts me up in the top echelon of skaters and that's really where I want to be. I'm feeling very good about it and I do plan to do it at Nationals.

Are you concentrating on the quad because Evgeni Plushenko, Brian Joubert and Stephane Lambiel will do it?

I'm doing it because I wanna be competitive, but mainly I'm doing it because I can. It's in my arsenal and I don't want to water down my program just to skate cleanly. I really wanna put everything I have out there and have no regrets about it. I have the quad, I can do it, I've been able to do it for a few seasons now. Last year, we took it out because we really wanted to concentrate on my consistency and I feel that my consistency has grown so much. I feel so confident in my other jumps that I don't have to worry about them, and now that I feel strongly about that, I can confidently put the quad in my program. It's something that I wanna do for myself and it's something that I also wanna do so that I can be competitive.

What is the risk/reward factor in doing a quad cleanly?

There's a risk/reward to every jump. Unfortunately with a quad it's a little more because it's factored. It's not just like a -3 off the top, I think if you miss it, it's a -4 point something. The risk is a little more, but I do feel very confident in my ability to do it, so I feel that, I did it at Skate Canada and felt that that was a great step. I did get rewarded for it. I feel that in the judge's mind, obviously I don't know what they're thinking, but I think when they see someone put out a quad, they tend to, I think, give or push up some of the other scores because they feel that it's a harder jump and not everyone's trying it, and so there should be some reward to it. Unfortunately if you fall it's downgraded, you get 0 points, so that's very tough. But like I said, I do feel very confident in this jump and it is worth the risk to get the reward.

You've had some really great results on the world stage, but in the last two World championships, you've been 11th. How will you be a World and Olympic medal contender this year?

I think I started my season too early last year and I pushed really really really hard all the way through without ever giving myself time to rest and regroup. I think it was just too much to handle towards the end of the season. This year, kind of took a different approach and started a little bit later. I'm allowing my body and mind to get a little rest, so that I don't feel over-extended by the time the end of the season rolls around. I feel confident much more in myself now than I have in past seasons and I feel that it's certainly been a goal to be on an Olympic or World podium. It's listening to my coaches, trusting what they have to say, and really just taking it just one thing at a time and not wearing myself too thin.

Does the scoring system help you? It seemed that in the past, if you didn't prove yourself in the World Championships, you didn't have a chance. Has that changed, that if you start with a clean slate, and if you skate clean, you'll be rewarded?

I'm not sure to be honest. I certainly feel after Worlds last season I've had to kind of re-prove myself. The beginning of my season wasn't as strong as the beginning of last season so I don't feel like I've proved to myself to be there yet. But I do feel that if I skate to my potential and do what I have planned in my program and execute it well, that I should be rewarded for what I can do and I don't think I will be held down.

You said that you sat down with your coaches after the Grand Prix Final and took a look at your programs. Beyond the quad, were there any changes or refinements that you felt that you needed to make?

We didn't make any changes coming into US Championships. Everything's gonna be pretty much the same. I'm planning on doing the quad, in my programs the jump content will pretty much be the same. It's just taking the time to refine and continue to train and make sure that the programs are very strong and very secure and very comfortable. And make sure that everything is set up the way it should be so that I know how to get through the program, that there's no question, no doubt, no uncertainty, in terms of how the program is set up and how I execute it. It's just a matter of going out there and doing what I do every day.

You changed coaches last season and moved from Colorado to Detroit. How has working with Yuka and Jason helped your confidence?

They've been fantastic. They believe 100% in me and my abilities. Just having that amazing support behind me really gives me more confidence and I've certainly seen improved consistency in training and in competition. Just going through the daily routine and having more consistency every day and having that really amazing support system builds my confidence even more. I feel really really great.

You come in as the defending National champion but in some ways, you're still the underdog with Evan having won the World title. Is that a good or bad thing?

I really would like to defend my title this season, but that's not my goal. My goal is really the Olympics and being on that team and going there and just peaking at the right time and putting out my best when it's needed. So I do feel a bit like an underdog after Evan had won the Worlds. He won the Grand Prix Final this season, so coming into this competition, I do feel kind of like an underdog, again. But I don't feel like I have a lot of chasing to do, I'm right on par with Evan and Johnny and all the other skaters in the US. For me it's just about taking the steps and peaking at the right time. If that means I don't recapture my title, I don't recapture my title. My goal is really the Olympics this season.

Due to the way the Nationals schedule is this year, the men will be finished early. If you do make it onto the Olympic team, will you stay in Spokane for the rest of Nationals, or will you go back to Detroit and train?

I discussed it with my coaches and decided that I would come back home, and fly back to do the exhibition and everything that's required of the Olympic team if I make it. So we just felt that it would be better to come home, regroup and refocus and just have some quiet time before entering the craziness of the Games.

The way the judging system is set up, they seem bent on knocking people down, finding faults rather than rewarding performance and the demands put on skaters -- we have rarely seen a flawless-type of perforamnce in the last few seasons. Is that frustraing, the amount of stuff you have to do in a program, that you can't really hold a position for very long, that a winning performance is now rarely the one that will seem to be remembered forever?

I think the demand on the sport has grown exponentially. They keep changing and refining the rules and sometimes I don't always agree with the changes they make. I don't always think they're the smartest, but it's not my decision and not my choice, I just have to follow them. I really try to take what's thrown at me and do the best with it that I can and I try to create something that's unique to me -- Hopefully memorable that the audience and judges can all appreciate. I think because the demands are so high, it is very difficult to create a flawless performance, but it's certainly not unreasonable and it's definitely attainable. The Olympics are always a surprise and something memorable always comes out of it. So this year we'll definitely have some good stories to tell.

Is it good to have this many great skaters to go up against at Nationals where we're really not sure what will happen?

I think it is good, the US has a very very strong team this year and especially in the men's event. It's gonna be hard but I think that our best skaters will be on the team and we'll have a very strong showing at the Olympics. I think it's hard when you're going to compete internationally to have so many good men, and to have, like, three represented because when you compete internationally, it's always a little bit of a chess game, and to have so many good men, unfortunately we can't all be at the top and we can't sweep the podium even though we're all so good. Regardless, I think the rest of the world should look out for us because we're a very very strong team and we have a lot to offer.

Can you talk about your relationship with your agent Tara Modlin, who also represents Johnny Weir?

Tara's been a fantastic agent. She talked to me after I went to Worlds in 2008, my first Worlds and I didn't do very well. It was really exciting to have someone who believed in my potential and who still believes in my potential and truly wants the best for my career. I haven't worked with any other agents but I really feel she's been very genuine in wanting the best for me and wanting the best for my career. As far as what plans are coming up, I really have no idea. I know that she works very hard for me, she tries to get me as much as possible and I can't always do everything. I think there's probably some shows planned after this season and I'm really excited for what's coming up and for what's she's done for me so far.

After the Olympics, will you go back home to Colorado and if not, where will you settle?

After the Olympics, I plan on coming back to Detroit. Depending on how I do there, I may or may not go to Worlds. I'm planning on doing both at the moment, but I guess if I win, I'll have to discuss that with my coaches. I plan on coming back to Detroit. I do plan on competing another season at least, so I will probably continue training here.

How did you come to choose Day in the Life by the Beatles for your short program?

I was watching the movie Across the Universe and there was a quick snippet of it and I thought, "I love this piece of music so much" and so I went online to try and find it. I ended up finding the piece by Jeff Beck and I was really really excited about it and I wanted to skate to it last season but we instead decided on the Adagio piece. So this year when I went to Shae Lynn [Bourne], I brought the piece of music with me, and she absolutely was in love with it, Yuka was in love with it, and it's been a piece that I've loved for 2-3 years now, and Shae started to move to it and everything just fell into place. And I was really excited about that and just everything about it felt right.

Do you think it's possible that judging at Russian Nationals will affect the scores at US Nationals? Evgeni Plushenko will be heading to the Olympics with a world's best score, almost 272 points for five clean triples and a quad. Do you think we're reaching the danger zone when scores seem to be propped up?

Scores at National championships across the world are always inflated. I felt that my scores last year at US Championships were very high, deserved or undeserved I don't know. It's always kind of that way, and it's always been that way, but when you come onto the international scene, the nationals scores don't have any affect. So what happens at US Championships this year, whatever happened at Russian championships this year, really won't have any affect on the scoring when it comes to the Olympics or Worlds. Everyone has to perform on those given days, and it's a whole different panel. When you go to these championships, the judges are all from your country and they all want to push you up and help you but when you go internationally, there are judges from other countries who wanna help their skaters, so it's kind of a whole different ballgame. I don't what the scoring will be like at Nationals this year, maybe we'll see 100 points in the short program like in the Russian Championships, or maybe we won't. Either way, my goal is really just to be on the team and what happens from there, I have to perform.

What are your thoughts about Plushenko's comeback?

When I first heard he was coming back, I have to admit, I certainly was intimidated. Here was this great champion, amazing technician, come back and say he wanted to compete. It's always a little intimidating. Of course I was skeptical at first if he was going to be in shape, be healthy, and he went to Cup of Russia and proved that he was still strong. But you know, I'm not the same skater that I have been in previous seasons. I feel much more confident in myself and in my abilities. I feel that, not only is my artistry up there, but I also feel that my technical aspect of skating has improved greatly. You know, now he's just become another competitor. In my mind, I don't hold him on a pedestal. I don't view him any differently than I would anyone else. He's just another skater that I have to contend with. At the end of the day, I have to go out there and focus on myself and I have to do what I can do, it doesn't matter what anyone else does. So for me, when I go out to compete, whatever anyone else does doesn't matter, I just have to go out and I have to do what I can do. And I just hope that the judges like what I have to offer.