2011 US Figure Skating Championships: Final results of senior division

Here are the results from the senior men's, ladies, pairs and ice dancing competition at the 2011 AT&T US Figure Skating Championships in Greensboro, North Carolina. In pairs, Caitlin Yankowskas and John Coughlin won gold, followed by Amanda Evora and Mark Ladwig who won the silver. Last year's champions Caydee Denney and Jeremy Barrett won the bronze. In dance, Meryl Davis and Charlie White won gold, Maia and Alex Shibutani won silver, and Madison Chock and Greg Zuerlein won bronze. For the ladies, Alissa Czisny won gold, Rachael Flatt silver and Mirai Nagasu bronze. In men's, Ryan Bradley won gold, Richard Dornbush won silver and Ross Miner won the bronze. Jeremy Abbott came in fourth.

Top 10 results for senior pairs:

Rank	Name	SP	FS	Points
1	Caitlin Yankowskas, Broadmoor SC / John Coughlin, Kansas City FSC	1	1	188.45
2	Amanda Evora, Southwest Florida FSC / Mark Ladwig, Red River Valley FSC	2	2	185.22
3	Caydee Denney, Panthers FSC / Jeremy Barrett, Panthers FSC	4	3	175.49
4	Mary Beth Marley, DuPage FSC / Rockne Brubaker, All Year FSC	3	4	163.55
5	Marissa Castelli, SC of Boston / Simon Shnapir, Colonial FSC	6	5	151.92
6	Tiffany Vise, Broadmoor SC / Don Baldwin, Los Angeles FSC	5	7	151.26
7	Lindsay Davis, All Year FSC / Themistocles Leftheris, Los Angeles FSC	7	6	148.25
8	Gretchen Donlan, SC of Boston / Andrew Speroff, Broadmoor SC	9	8	145.25
9	Chloe Katz, SC of New York / Joseph Lynch, SC of New York	12	9	140.00
10	Becky Bereswill, Detroit SC / Trevor Young, Detroit SC	8	12	137.71

Top 10 results for senior dance:

Rank	Name	SD	FD	Points
1	Meryl Davis, Arctic FSC / Charlie White, Detroit SC	1	1	185.48
2	Maia Shibutani, SC of New York / Alex Shibutani, Arctic FSC	2	2	173.18
3	Madison Chock, All Year FSC / Greg Zuerlein, Arctic FSC	3	3	154.62
4	Madison Hubbell, Detroit SC / Keiffer Hubbell, Detroit SC	5	4	141.70
5	Lynn Kriengkrairut, All Year FSC / Logan Giulietti-Schmitt, Ann Arbor FSC	4	6	138.42
6	Isabella Cannuscio, University of Delaware FSC / Ian Lorello, University of Delaware FSC	7	5	136.55
7	Shannon Wingle, Arctic FSC / Timothy McKernan, Broadmoor SC	6	8	130.20
8	Rachel Tibbetts, Broadmoor SC / Collin Brubaker, All Year FSC	10	7	118.25
9	Meredith Zuber, University of Delaware FSC / Kyle Herring, University of Delaware FSC	9	9	118.06
10	Ginna Hoptman, IceWorks SC / Pavel Filchenkov, IceWorks SC	8	10	117.53

Top 10 results for senior ladies:

Rank	Name	SP	FS	Points
1	Alissa Czisny, Detroit SC	2	1	191.24
2	Rachael Flatt, Broadmoor SC	3	2	183.38
3	Mirai Nagasu, Pasadena FSC	1	3	177.26
4	Agnes Zawadzki, Broadmoor SC	4	4	173.84
5	Christina Gao, Northern Kentucky SC	5	6	167.20
6	Ashley Wagner, SC of Wilmington	7	5	165.36
7	Vanessa Lam, All Year FSC	6	7	162.91
8	Yasmin Siraj, SC of Boston	8	8	152.47
9	Joelle Forte, SC of New York	12	9	149.28
10	Melissa Bulanhagui, University of Delaware FSC	15	11	144.53

Top 10 results for senior men:

Rank	Name	SP	FS	Points
1	Ryan Bradley, Broadmoor SC	1	4	231.90
2	Richard Dornbush, All Year FSC	7	1	225.56
3	Ross Miner, SC of Boston	6	2	224.35
4	Jeremy Abbott, Detroit SC	2	6	224.16
5	Adam Rippon, SC of New York	9	3	220.04
6	Armin Mahbanoozadeh, Washington FSC	8	5	215.05
7	Brandon Mroz, Broadmoor SC	3	9	213.49
8	Keegan Messing, Alaska Assoc of Figure Skaters	4	8	213.29
9	Jason Brown, Skokie Valley SC	11	7	208.76
10	Douglas Razzano, Coyotes SC of Arizona	5	10	206.76

Complete results for the novice and junior divisions can be found here.

Results from 2010 Nebelhorn Trophy in Oberstdorf, Germany

The first senior level international competition of this season starts with the Nebelhorn Trophy in Oberstdorf, Germany. Last year the competition served as an Olympic qualifying event (imagine the pressure!) and I remember that Cathy and Chris Reed, the brother and sister ice dancing team representing Japan, were very excited because their younger sister Allison had just qualified for the Olympics at the event with her ice dance partner Otar Japaridze. (Click here to watch my interview with Cathy and Chris Reed at a benefit in Danbury, Connecticut.) This year, however, things are much more subdued and I'm particularly interested in how ice dancing will fare. Ice dancing rules were changed recently so that instead of three dances (compulsory, original and free), there are now two -- the short dance and the free dance. Head on over to ice-dance.com for their excellent analysis of the short dance. I wonder if I'll better understand ice dance now with this change. I'll let you know.

In the meantime, the ladies, men and pairs competition has concluded and below are the top ten results. (Note: SP=Short Program; FS=Free Skate; SD=Short Dance and FD=Free Dance) Ice dance concludes this afternoon and results will be posted soon. [UPDATE: Results are posted!] I'm also hoping that we'll be able to see some of the competition on YouTube - so far, nothing yet and I do keep checking. 

ICE DANCE:

FPl	Name	Nat	Points	SD	FD
1	Nathalie PECHALAT / Fabian BOURZAT	FRA	147.18	3	1
2	Anna CAPPELLINI / Luca LANOTTE	ITA	143.28	1	4
3	Ekaterina RIAZANOVA / Ilia TKACHENKO	RUS	141.92	2	3
4	Nelli ZHIGANSHINA / Alexander GAZSI	GER	135.42	4	5
5	Maia SHIBUTANI / Alex SHIBUTANI	USA	133.00	8	2
6	Lynn KRIENGKRAIRUT / Logan GIULIETTI-SCHMITT	USA	126.94	5	8
7	Lucie MYSLIVECKOVA / Matej NOVAK	CZE	126.27	6	6
8	Sarah ARNOLD / Justin TROJEK	CAN	123.92	7	7
9	Tarrah HARVEY / Keith GAGNON	CAN	110.01	9	12
10	Siobhan HEEKIN-CANEDY / Alexander SHAKALOV	UKR	109.70	11	9

LADIES:

FPl	Name	Nat	Points	SP	FS
1	Kiira KORPI	FIN	162.88	1	1
2	Viktoria HELGESSON	SWE	145.92	4	2
3	Melissa BULANHAGUI	USA	133.72	2	5
4	Joshi HELGESSON	SWE	132.08	3	4
5	Jenna MCCORKELL	GBR	130.45	7	3
6	Diane SZMIETT	CAN	124.87	6	6
7	Francesca RIO	ITA	121.07	5	7
8	Victoria MUNIZ	PUR	99.87	9	12
9	Phoebe DI TOMMASO	AUS	98.39	11	10
10	Karina JOHNSON	DEN	95.80	12	8

MEN:

FPl	Name	Nat	Points	SP	FS
1	Tatsuki MACHIDA	JPN	221.22	1	1
2	Konstantin MENSHOV	RUS	208.80	3	2
3	Peter LIEBERS	GER	196.97	4	4
4	Armin MAHBANOOZADEH	USA	196.17	8	3
5	Kevin VAN DER PERREN	BEL	194.14	2	8
6	Joey RUSSELL	CAN	186.37	6	6
7	Michal BREZINA	CZE	184.31	9	5
8	Jason WONG	USA	179.55	11	7
9	Ivan TRETIAKOV	RUS	178.26	5	9
10	Maciej CIEPLUCHA	POL	160.79	13	10

PAIRS:

FPl	Name	Nat	Points	SP	FS
1	Vera BAZAROVA / Yuri LARIONOV	RUS	165.30	1	1
2	Stefania BERTON / Ondrej HOTAREK	ITA	155.21	2	2
3	Meagan DUHAMEL / Eric RADFORD	CAN	147.44	3	3
4	Gretchen DONLAN / Andrew SPEROFF	USA	135.58	4	4
5	Maylin HAUSCH / Daniel WENDE	GER	129.03	7	5
6	Joanna SULEJ / Mateusz CHRUSCINSKI	POL	126.20	5	6
7	Felicia ZHANG / Taylor TOTH	USA	119.35	6	7
8	Lubov BAKIROVA / Mikalai KAMIANCHUK	BLR	99.68	8	8
9	Danielle MONTALBANO / Evgeni KRASNOPOLSKI	ISR	93.39	9	9

On a personal note, congrats to the US's Melissa Bulanhagui who won the bronze! I had a chance to interview Melissa earlier this year and she is lovely, so I am very happy for her. Interview below:

One Step Closer skating exhibition on March 27 to benefit children with AIDS (video)

There's going to be a terrific skating exhibition on Saturday, March 27, at Lasker Rink in Central Park, NYC. Produced by Tim David, an adult competitive skater and director of the Lasker Rink Skating School, the show is called One Step Closer and all proceeds will go to the AIDS Resource Foundation for Children. Tim is a great guy and with Brian Mancuso, Executive Director of One Step Closer, they are trying to improve the lives of children and families living with AIDS and HIV, well, one step at a time. Tim has reached out to the figure skating community for any donations to support the show. We attended rehearsals a few weeks ago and spoke with Tim, as well as scheduled performers Angela Maxwell and Melissa Bulanhagui. Come on everyone, let's support One Step Closer and let's meet at Lasker Rink on March 27! (Visit One Step Closer on Facebook here.)

2010 US Figure Skating Championships: Rachael Flatt wins gold in senior ladies, Mirai Nagasu silver and Ashley Wagner bronze -- Sasha Cohen denied a medal

 
Another exciting final at the 2010 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Spokane, Washington, as Rachael Flatt chalks up an extraordinarily powerful free skate to Variations on a Theme by Paganini to capture the gold by nearly 12 points. She had a command of the ice and skated with an, "What? I'm in third place after the short? We're gonna change that right here, right now." Her five different triples and a triple flip- triple toe combination were the most consistent and difficult of the top ladies and she racked up 130.76 points in the free skate and 200.11 overall.

Mirai Nagasu also looked great skating to Carmen, but it only got her third place in the free and the silver overall. Although Mirai had the more exciting-looking program, it was not as technically difficult as Rachael's, a few of her jumps were downgraded and she ended up with 118.72 points for the free skate and 188.78 point overall. I watched on television and could hear a gasp from the audience because some thought she had won or at least, scored higher, but that's what the new judging system is all about. Mirai may have had the pure performance quality and "It" factor package, but Rachael had the complete package with a little less "It" factor. Who cares at the end of the day? I can't believe both ladies won't be packing their bags to Vancouver for the 2010 Winter Olympics. [UPDATE: Rachael and Mirai were elected to represent the ladies at the Olympics.]

Ashley Wagner, who was fourth after the short, posted a strong second place showing in the free skate, which won her the bronze. And Sasha Cohen, the media darling of the entire event, just couldn't put it together for her last skate and finished fourth in both the free and overall. But thank you Sasha for reminding all of us what the standard should be for the Program Component Scores. We needed you at Nationals to put it in perspective and you did just that.   

Below are the final results. Also, we spoke to Rachael just a few weeks ago in New York City when she skated on the Today Show. I've included an interview we did with her, as well as a slideshow of her performance that day. At the time, I described Rachael as winsome and wholesome -- a nice, smart high school senior who just now happens to be the US ladies figure skating champion. That's a nice thing to put on your college application, isn't it? Maybe she'll put it under "Other Interests and Accolades." She.told me in NYC that she is impressed with Stanford and Princeton and will take into account training facilities when making her final decision.

Below are the results for the senior ladies after the short program. Note: SP=Short Program and FS=Free Skate. Points are the sum of the Total Element Score (TES) + Total Component Score (TCS). Think of the TES as the technical marks and the TCS as the artistic marks which take into account skating skills, footwork, performance, choreography and interpretation.

Rank	Name	SP	FS	Points
1	Rachael Flatt, Broadmoor SC	69.35	130.76	200.11
2	Mirai Nagasu, Pasadena FSC	70.06	118.72	188.78
3	Ashley Wagner, SC of Wilmington Inc	62.55	122.15	184.70
4	Sasha Cohen, Orange County FSC	69.63	104.65	174.28
5	Christina Gao, Northern Kentucky SC	56.26	100.27	156.53
6	Amanda Dobbs, Peninsula SC	56.11	94.61	150.72
7	Beatrisa Liang, All Year FSC	51.98	95.73	147.71
8	Alexe Gilles, Broadmoor SC	53.54	89.77	143.31
9	Emily Hughes, SC of New York Inc	53.75	86.85	140.60
10	Alissa Czisny, Detroit SC	54.18	86.19	140.37
11	Caroline Zhang, All Year FSC	49.94	88.33	138.27
12	Melissa Bulanhagui, Uni. of Delaware FSC	45.60	83.61	129.21
13	Becky Bereswill, Houston FSC	44.60	83.36	127.96
14	Samantha Cesario, SC of New York Inc	44.33	74.87	119.20
15	Laney Diggs, All Year FSC	42.87	71.51	114.38
16	Kristiene Gong, All Year FSC	48.11	64.81	112.92
17	Blake Rosenthal, SC of Wilmington Inc	43.43	68.99	112.42
18	Chelsea Morrow, Greater Grand Rapids FSC	46.35	65.38	111.73
19	Christina-Maria Sperduto, St Paul FSC	31.62	78.27	109.89
20	Tatyana Khazova, Broadmoor SC	41.63	67.26	108.89
21	Ellie Kawamura, All Year FSC	33.51	69.82	103.33
22	Rebecca Stern, University of Delaware FSC	32.49	64.73	97.22
*	Kayla Howey, DuPage FSC	35.59	NA	Withdrew

Melissa Bulanhagui: Balancing school and skating at the U. of Delaware

Melissa Bulanhagui (see right), senior competitor representing the University of Delaware FSC, was at Lasker Rink in Central Park a few weeks ago to rehearse for an ice show called One Step Closer which will be held on March 27, 2010. I caught up with Melissa who's been pretty busy of late preparing for Eastern Sectionals (she came in first at South Atlantic Regionals), attending school part-time at the University of Delaware, and trying to keep a normal social schedule given that she's a fun-loving 19-year old! Right now she's focused on trying to make it to Spokane, Washington for U.S. Nationals in January by placing in the top four at sectionals. She's also balancing school and skating and has her long-term sights set on being the Philadelphia 76ers' physical therapist. She wants to help athletes overcome their injuries and just loves everything about sports. Best of luck to Melissa and her quest to make it to Nationals and the 76ers' team!

[EASTERN SECTIONALS UPDATE: Melissa came in 2nd at Eastern Sectionals and will be going to Nationals! See Melissa's artistry and athleticism in person at the One Step Closer benefit at Lasker Rink in Central Park on March 27.]