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

Alena Leonova takes ladies title at 2009 World Junior Championships

Alena Leonova from Russia just won the 2009 World Junior Figure Skating Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria. What an exciting finish to the event -- Caroline Zhang from the United States, who was tenth after the short program, came roaring back to win the free skate and won the silver medal. Her teammate Ashley Wagner took the bronze medal. Georgia's Elene Gedevanishvili, who led after the short, couldn't maintain her momentum and finished sixth overall.

Results for the top 25 ladies are as follows. Note: SP=Short Program and FS=Free Skate

FPl	Name	Nation	SP	FS	Points
1	Alena LEONOVA	RUS	3	2	157.18
2	Caroline ZHANG	USA	10	1	154.67
3	Ashley WAGNER	USA	2	3	153.57
4	Joshi HELGESSON	SWE	4	6	139.89
5	Katrina HACKER	USA	5	4	139.68
6	Elene GEDEVANISHVILI	GEO	1	11	138.32
7	Sarah HECKEN	GER	9	5	135.83
8	Ivana REITMAYEROVA	SVK	6	8	129.40
9	Oksana GOZEVA	RUS	15	7	126.70
10	Isabel DRESCHER	GER	8	10	126.65
11	Francesca RIO	ITA	7	12	122.70
12	Mae Berenice MEITE	FRA	16	9	122.53
13	Diane SZMIETT	CAN	12	15	119.09
14	Miriam ZIEGLER	AUT	19	13	116.20
15	Svetlana ISSAKOVA	EST	18	14	115.14
16	Haruka IMAI	JPN	17	16	113.24
17	Chaochih LIU	TPE	13	18	112.49
18	Bingwa GENG	CHN	11	21	111.71
19	Eleonora VINNICHENKO	UKR	20	17	110.66
20	Sonia LAFUENTE	ESP	14	22	109.27
21	Kathryn KANG	CAN	23	20	104.82
22	Min-Jung KWAK	KOR	24	19	103.69
23	Karly ROBERTSON	GBR	22	23	102.53
24	Katsiarina PAKHAMOVICH	BLR	21	25	88.50
25	Stefanie PECHLANER	BUL	44	24	76.45

Madison Chock and Greg Zuerlein win dance title at 2009 World Junior Championships

The 2009 World Junior Figure Skating Championships continue in Sofia, Bulgaria, with ice dance. The United States' Madison Chock and Greg Zuerlein led in all three dances to win the gold medal with 172.55 points. (They are having a terrific season, having also won the U.S. junior title in Cleveland as well as the Junior Grand Prix Final in Korea back in December.) Their teammates Maia Shibutani and Alex Shubutani took the silver with 162.15 points. Russia's Ekaterina Riazanova and Jonathan Guerreiro won the bronze with 161.80 points.

Results for the top ten teams are below. (Note: CD=Compulsory Dance, OD=Original Dance and FD=Free Dance.)

FPl	Names	Nation	CD	OD	FD	Points
1	Madison CHOCK / Greg ZUERLEIN	USA	1	1	1	172.55
2	Maia SHIBUTANI / Alex SHIBUTANI	USA	5	4	2	162.15
3	Ekaterina RIAZANOVA / Jonathan GUERREIRO	RUS	7	2	3	161.8
4	Madison HUBBELL / Keiffer HUBBELL	USA	2	3	4	161.34
5	Kharis RALPH / Asher HILL	CAN	4	6	5	152.76
6	Ekaterina PUSHKASH / Dmitri KISELEV	RUS	3	5	9	150.21
7	Karen ROUTHIER / Eric SAUCKE-LACELLE	CAN	6	8	6	149.5
8	Lucie MYSLIVECKOVA / Matej NOVAK	CZE	11	7	10	146.04
9	Lorenza ALESSANDRINI / Simone VATURI	ITA	10	9	8	145.61
10	Terra FINDLAY / Benoit RICHAUD	FRA	13	10	7	145.17

The competition concludes tomorrow with the ladies free skate. After the short program, Georgia's Elene Gedevanishvili leads, followed by the United States' Ashley Wagner and Russia's Alena Leonova.

Adam Rippon wins men's title at 2009 World Junior Championships

Adam Rippon from the United States won the men's event at the 2009 World Junior Figure Skating Championships, in Sofia, Bulgaria. Adam defended his title with a commanding 17+ point lead. Michal Brezina from the Czech Republic won the silver medal, and Artem Grigoriev from Russia took the bronze. The United States' Curran Oi and Ross Miner finished fifth and tenth, respectively.

The top ten results are as follows. Note: SP=Short Program and FS=Free Skate

FPl	Name	Nation	SP	FS	Points
1	Adam RIPPON	USA	1	1	222.00
2	Michal BREZINA	CZE	2	2	204.88
3	Artem GRIGORIEV	RUS	4	3	184.40
4	Denis TEN	KAZ	5	4	183.77
5	Curran OI	USA	3	7	182.89
6	Chao YANG	CHN	7	6	177.86
7	Nan SONG	CHN	10	5	175.44
8	Elladj BALDÉ	CAN	8	8	170.76
9	Kevin REYNOLDS	CAN	6	10	169.36
10	Ross MINER	USA	9	9	164.80

Tomorrow the ladies take to the ice for their short program, and the ice dancing champions will be crowned. After the compulsory and original dance, the United States' Madison Chock and Greg Zuerlein are sitting in first place, followed by teammates Madison and Keiffer Hubbell.

Iliushechkina and Maisuradze win pairs at World Junior Championships

The 2009 World Junior Figure Skating Championships crowned it's first medalists today in pairs. Lubov Iliushechkina and Nodari Maisuradze from Russia won the gold with 144.32 points. Their fellow teammates Anastasia Martiusheva and Alexei Rogonov took the silver with 138.59 points (and what a comeback for them, placing 11th after the short program but winning the free skate!), and Marissa Castelli and Simon Shnapir from the United States won the bronze with 137.47 points.

Complete results are below. Note: SP=Short Program and FS=Free Skate

Rank	Competitors	Nation	SP	FS	Points
1	Lubov ILIUSHECHKINA / Nodari MAISURADZE	RUS	1	2	144.32
2	Anastasia MARTIUSHEVA / Alexei ROGONOV	RUS	11	1	138.59
3	Marissa CASTELLI / Simon SHNAPIR	USA	2	4	137.47
4	Paige LAWRENCE / Rudi SWIEGERS	CAN	4	3	137.07
5	Ekaterina SHEREMETIEVA / Mikhail KUZNETSOV	RUS	3	5	134.80
6	Maddison BIRD / Raymond SCHULTZ	CAN	6	6	127.63
7	Narumi TAKAHASHI / Mervin TRAN	JPN	8	7	126.64
8	Yue ZHANG / Lei WANG	CHN	7	8	125.30
9	Brynn CARMAN / Chris KNIERIM	CHN	9	9	124.93
10	Anais MORAND / Antoine DORSAZ	SUI	5	10	123.60
11	Duo CHENG / Yu GAO	CHN	10	11	119.73
12	Maria SERGEJEVA / Ilja GLEBOV	EST	12	12	116.38
13	Krystyna KLIMCZAK / Janusz KARWETA	POL	14	13	107.81
14	Camille FOUCHER / Bruno MASSOT	FRA	13	15	104.26
15	Carolina GILLESPIE / Daniel AGGIANO	ITA	15	14	101.43
16	Gabriela CERMANOVA / Martin HANULAK	SVK	16	16	101.08
17	Alexandra HERBRIKOVA / Lukas OVCACEK	CZE	17	17	98.26
18	Marylie JORG / Benjamin KOENDERINK	NED	18	18	97.63
19	Rie AOI / Wen Xiong GUO	HKG	20	19	91.28
20	Anna KHNYCHENKOVA / Sergei KULBACH	UKR	19	20	87.81
21	Tameron DRAKE / Edward ALTON	GBR	21		FNR

Tomorrow the junior men's champion will be crowned. After the short program today, Adam Rippon from the United States leads, followed by Michal Brezine of the Czech Republic and Curran Oi of the United States.