Miki Ando withdraws from Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series

Miki Ando (above) announced on her Facebook page that she is withdrawing from her Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series assignments. I needed icenetwork to help translate her message -- click here for icenetwork's take on this. The two-time World champion was to compete at Cup of China and Trophee Eric Bompard. Her reason? She is without a permanent coach. She split from Nikolai Morozov earlier this year.

GOSSIP ALERT: DO NOT READ IF YOU NEED YOUR GOSSIP SUBSTANTIATED

There were rumors last year that Miki and Nikolai were dating, and both tried very hard to deny or not address them. Then I heard they were actually engaged! But alas, sometimes things don't work out and you hope both parties can move on. Maybe Miki's heartbroken? Maybe her glory days was the 2010-2011 season where she beat Yu-na Kim for the World title? Only Miki knows what drives Miki to compete. 

END OF GOSSIP 

Here's an interview I did with Miki a few years ago when she skated at a charity event in Danbury, Connecticut.

And if you're curious -- who is this guy who couldn't make it work with Miki? Here is my interview with Nikolai in 2008. Finding this video was a real trip down memory lane for me as lifeskate.com was just getting into the groove of doing videos and I was learning on the fly. My interview skills have gotten A LOT better, trust me.

2011 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships results

The top 10 results for mens, ladies, pairs and ice dancing at the 2011 ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships are below.

FOR THE MEN:

FPl	Name	Nation	Points	SP	FS
1	Daisuke TAKAHASHI	JPN	244.00	1	1
2	Yuzuru HANYU	JPN	228.01	3	3
3	Jeremy ABBOTT	USA	225.71	2	4
4	Takahiko KOZUKA	JPN	223.52	6	2
5	Adam RIPPON	USA	210.01	4	5
6	Jinlin GUAN	CHN	201.98	9	6
7	Armin MAHBANOOZADEH	USA	200.67	5	9
8	Jialiang WU	CHN	199.78	10	7
9	Nan SONG	CHN	195.13	12	8
10	Shawn SAWYER	CAN	192.94	7	10

FOR THE LADIES:

FPl	Name	Nation	Points	SP	FS
1	Miki ANDO	JPN	201.34	1	1
2	Mao ASADA	JPN	196.30	2	2
3	Mirai NAGASU	USA	189.46	4	3
4	Rachael FLATT	USA	180.31	3	4
5	Alissa CZISNY	USA	168.81	5	5
6	Cynthia PHANEUF	CAN	163.14	7	6
7	Akiko SUZUKI	JPN	162.59	6	7
8	Min-Jeong KWAK	KOR	147.15	8	8
9	Amelie LACOSTE	CAN	137.48	9	9
10	Cheltzie LEE	AUS	127.90	10	10

FOR PAIRS:

FPl	Name	Nation	Points	SP	FS
1	Qing PANG / Jian TONG	CHN	199.45	1	1
2	Meagan DUHAMEL / Eric RADFORD	CAN	181.79	3	2
3	Paige LAWRENCE / Rudi SWIEGERS	CAN	171.73	2	4
4	Caitlin YANKOWSKAS / John COUGHLIN	USA	166.97	4	5
5	Kirsten MOORE-TOWERS / Dylan MOSCOVITCH	CAN	166.22	5	3
6	Amanda EVORA / Mark LADWIG	USA	157.30	6	6
7	Narumi TAKAHASHI / Mervin TRAN	JPN	152.63	8	7
8	Mary Beth MARLEY / Rockne BRUBAKER	USA	144.46	10	8
9	Yue ZHANG / Lei WANG	CHN	138.93	7	10
10	Huibo DONG / Yiming WU	CHN	135.10	9	9

FOR ICE DANCING:

FPl	Name	Nation	Points	SD	FD
1	Meryl DAVIS / Charlie WHITE	USA	172.03	2	1
2	Maia SHIBUTANI / Alex SHIBUTANI	USA	155.38	4	2
3	Vanessa CRONE / Paul POIRIER	CAN	151.83	5	3
4	Kaitlyn WEAVER / Andrew POJE	CAN	151.14	3	4
5	Madison CHOCK / Greg ZUERLEIN	USA	142.44	6	5
6	Xintong HUANG / Xun ZHENG	CHN	130.29	7	6
7	Xiaoyang YU / Chen WANG	CHN	125.75	8	7
8	Xueting GUAN / Meng WANG	CHN	106.26	9	8
9	Danielle OBRIEN / Gregory MERRIMAN	AUS	104.69	10	9
10	Corenne BRUHNS / Benjamin WESTENBERGER	MEX	88.55	11	10

NOTE: Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir were leading after the short dance. In the middle of their free dance, the team withdrew due to Tessa's injury. Read story here.

Adam Rippon leaves Nikolai Morozov to train with Brian Orser

U.S. Figure Skating reports today that 2008 World Junior Champion and 2008 U.S. junior champion Adam Rippon (see right) has left coach and choreographer Nikolai Morozov at the Ice House in Hackensack, New Jersey. As of December 28, 2008, Adam's been training under Brian Orser at the Toronto Cricket, Skating & Curling Club. This is where South Korean superstar Yu-Na Kim trains as well. Nikolai and Adam have been working together since February 2007 and Adam said that, “At this time I feel a change is necessary. I appreciate everything Nikoli has done for me. I credit him with much of my success.” According to International Figure Skating (IFS) which also broke the news, David Wilson will be Adam's new choreographer and has already "polished the short and changed the long."

This season, Adam finished eighth at Skate America and fifth at Cup of Russia for the Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series. Not too shabby for a senior debut. But Adam explained in IFS that with Nikolai's high-profile students already on his roster, like Miki Ando, Fumie Suguri, Nobunari Oda, to name a few, "the time we had together was very limited and it really was not the same working environment any more." With the 2009 U.S. Nationals just two weeks away in Cleveland, I guess Adam needed to change things up and make a major move. Let's hope his strategy pays off at Nationals.

Nikolai Morozov waits for stars to come out in the U.S.

I got a real treat a few months ago when I spoke with world-renowned choreographer Nikolai Morozov, who was leading the 2008 adult summer camp at the Ice House in Hacksensack, New Jersey. During a break, we chatted about his teaching the adult clinic, the lack of "superstar" skaters in the United States, his current roster of clients, which include Nobunari Oda, Miki Ando, Adam Rippon and Fumie Suguri, and other topics. What a super nice man, and I think he also teaches regular folks like us! I often forget that people at his level do fill their days with a mix of elite and recreational students. One day, I'll make it out there again and this time, I'll be there because I'll tell the front desk, "I have a lesson with Nikolai Morozov."

Ice House adult training camp: The best want to work with YOU

A few months ago, I spent a Sunday at the Ice House in Hackensack, New Jersey to cover the 2008 Adult Training Camp. The camp was well underway and it was really neat to see regular adult skaters being surrounded by the elite coaches, choreographers and skaters of our time. We're talking Nikolai Morozov, Robin Wagner, Stanislav Leonovich, Oksana Baiul, Angela Maxwell, and many others, who were teaching classes in spins, jumps and footwork. The three-day camp also includes off-ice conditioning, ballet and stretch classes, taught by Christine DeVito, a former Broadway dancer. Craig Maurizi has been running the camp since it's inception in 2001 and every year, he's so pleased to see so many returning to the Ice House camp as well as the new faces that come from as far away as England. Next summer I will definitely treat myself to the Ice House experience by being a camper myself!