Rachael Flatt withdraws from rest of season due to injuries

• Yuna Kim back with childhood coaches, no longer with Peter Oppegard and Karen Kwan. [TheStar]

• Bummed that you missed attending Skate America? Have no fear, here's the program that was distributed. [Kent Reporter]

• Jamie Sale and David Pelletier inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame. [icenetwork]

• Nick Verreos of Project Runway breaks down the fashion at Skate America. Really insightful and hilarious. [NickVerreos]

• Gracie Gold has best name ever! [USA Today]

• Guess who was a blue Crayola crayon for Halloween. [icenetwork]

• Check out new website from Scott Hamilton. It's not all about skating. [ScottHamilton1984]

• Skate America draws decent crowd. [Kent Reporter]

• Meet Meghan Speranzo, the scholarly skater. [Quinnipiac Chronicle]

• I KNEW Brian Orser was a real gentleman! [Ninni's Blog]

• Stop asking Meryl and Charlie if they're a couple! They're....not. [TeamUSA]

• Johnny Weir stars in Holiday Dreams On Ice in Brooklyn, New York on December 23. Brooklyn? Yep, Brooklyn. [HolidayDreamsOnIce]

• Rachael Flatt announces she is done for the rest of the season due to injuries. [US Figure Skating]

Skate America 2012: Ashley Wagner leads after short, Christina Gao in third

2012 Skate America results after ladies short program. Ashley Wagner from the US is first, followed by Adelina Sotnikova from Russia, then Christina Gao from the US. Rachael Flatt from the US is currently last.

(SP=Short Program; FS=Free Skate):

FPl	Name	Nat	Points	SP	FS
1	Ashley WAGNER	USA	60.61	1
2	Adelina SOTNIKOVA	RUS	58.93	2
3	Christina GAO	USA	56.63	3
4	Mae Berenice MEITE	FRA	54.41	4
5	Valentina MARCHEI	ITA	54.01	5
6	Viktoria HELGESSON	SWE	50.29	6
7	Haruka IMAI	JPN	49.90	7
8	Sarah HECKEN	GER	48.11	8
9	Alena LEONOVA	RUS	46.72	9
10	Rachael FLATT	USA	43.72	10

Rachael Flatt fights back at her critics by being happy

Don't count Rachael Flatt (at right) out this season. The 2010 US National champion and Olympian is competing at Skate America which starts this Friday in Kent, Washington. Rachel is attending Stanford University full time and many expected her to "retire" when she started college. I read a few articles where she was encouraged to be proud of her Nationals win and Olympic appearance and move on with her life. Ouch, that hurts. I know I love it when strangers give me unsolicited advice.

So let's go straight to the source and ask Rachael about her preparations for Skate America and her motivation to continue with her skating.

After wining the 2010 Nationals, you placed second in 2011 and sixth in 2012. Going into Skate America, are you a different skater from prior seasons?

Rachael: Absolutely! I think we are all different skaters every year as we grow, progress, and mature in our skating. Last season, I obviously got a lot of heat and criticism about continuing my skating career because I am going to school and probably bordering on spreading myself too thinly. It really got to me especially because I was dealing with injuries and completely uprooting my life in Colorado Springs to life at college (which is wonderfully amazing I might add). Now, I am much more comfortable with my setup in Northern California and I have a better schedule for at least this quarter. Although it will still be tough to balance everything, I am ready to start this season fresh and show that I am having the time of my life!

You are a sophomore at Stanford now -- can you describe your daily school and skating schedule? 

Rachael: My schedule differs day to day, but I normally skate in the morning, commute back to campus for classes, back to the rink for more on ice training, while squeezing in off ice workouts, etc in between classes or at the end of the day. Some days I have class until later afternoon or early evening because of labs or discussion sections, so those feel quite long. But overall, I like this schedule much better than some prior quarters. I stayed in Palo Alto this past summer, training with my coaches Justin Dillon and Lynn Smith, while completing my Physics class/lab requirement for my major. Weekends are my days to get work done! I sometimes go out with friends or my sorority (I'm an Alpha Phi) on Friday or Saturday night, but I also looove to catch up on sleep!

What are your short and long programs? 

Rachael: My long program, "Firebird" is the same from last year with a few revisions, and my short is a tango to a piece of music by Astor Piazolla, "Contrabajissimo", which I had originally choreographed as a show/exhibition program this spring. Justin and Lynn took a look at it shortly after I had completed the choreography and said that it had to be my short for this year. Justin and I reworked a few parts to fit the requirements and voila! It is a great program with a lot of sass and energy, so I am incredibly excited to debut it at Skate America.

What are your biggest improvements coming into this season?

Rachael: I think being more comfortable in my skin and with my style of skating has led to a lot more artistry coming out in my performances. I hope this shows through in competition, as it has really been fun to create my own program and ultimately design a character I love portraying.

What is your motivation this season?

Rachael: My main motivation is to just enjoy what I'm doing again while still getting something positive out of my skating. Although it can be incredibly hectic to balance my academics at Stanford and my skating career, I am doing what I love most, so I hope that continues to push me through the daily grind (especially on those days when I am definitely sleep deprived)!

Is your goal to make a second Olympic appearance?

Rachael: At this point, I am taking my career day by day because I am so busy. This is the best way for me to approach my schedule because it gets a bit overwhelming always looking at the big picture. Baby steps and daily goals and accomplishments have been the key to working through my training this year. As much as I'd love to say absolutely yes to Sochi, I will cross that road when I get to it. That was my approach for Vancouver: one day at a time, setting daily goals.

2012 Skate America schedule and competitors

The 2012 Hilton HHonors Skate America competition begins this Friday in Seattle/Kent, Washington. There are six international figure skating competitions between October and November(called the Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series) and Skate America is first up. You can watch all the action live and on demand by paying $40 for a subscription to icenetwork. NBC/Universal Sports usually shows a portion of Skate America on television. I will update when I find out the times. [UPDATE: According to icenetwork, NBC will air part of the ladies free skate on Sunday, October 21. Check the TV Guide for times.] 

The event schedule is as follows.  

Friday, October 19
Pairs short, Men’s short – 7:00 pm PST (10 pm EST)
Saturday, October 20
Ladies short, Short dance – 12:30 pm PST (3:30 pm EST)
Men’s free, Pairs free – 7:00 pm PST (10 pm EST) 
Sunday, October 21
Free dance, Ladies free – 11:45 am PST (2:45 pm EST) 
Skating Spectacular – 6:00 pm PST (9 pm EST) 

Competitors at Skate America are:

LADIES

1. Mae Berenice Meite, FRA
2. Sarah Hecken, GER
3. Valentina Marchei, ITA
4. Haruka Imai, JPN
5. Alena Leonova, RUS
6. Adelina Sotnikova, RUS
7. Viktoria Helgesson, SWE
8. Rachael Flatt, USA
9. Christina Gao, USA
10. Ashley Wagner, USA

MEN

1. Michal Brezina, CZE
2. Tomas Verner, CZE
3. Yuzuru Hanyu, JPN
4. Takahiko Kozuka, JPN
5. Tatsuki Machida, JPN
6. Konstantin Menshov, RUS
7. Alexander Majorov, SWE
8. Jeremy Abbott, USA
9. Evan Lysacek, USA [Armin Mahbanoozadeh (USA) substituted for Lysacek who withdrew on 10/10/12 due to injury] 
10. Douglas Razzano, USA

PAIRS

1. Jessica Dube & Sebastien Wolfe, CAN
2. Qing Pang & Jian Tong, CHN
3. Vanessa James & Morgan Cipres, FRA
4. Stacy Kemp & David King, GBR
5. Tatiana Volosozhar & Maxim Trankov, RUS
6. Marissa Castelli & Simon Shnapir, USA
7. Caydee Denney & John Coughlin, USA
8. Gretchen Donlan & Andrew Speroff, USA

ICE DANCE

1. Kaitlyn Weaver & Andrew Poje, CAN
2. Nelli Zhiganshina & Alexandra Gazsi, GER
3. Lorenza Alessandrini & Simone Vaturi, ITA
4. Isabella Tobias & Delvidas Stagniuas, LTU
5. Ekaterina Bobrova & Dmitri Soloviev, RUS
6. Anastasia Cannuscio & Colin McManus USA
7. Meryl Davis & Charlie White, USA
8. Lynn Kriengkrairut & Logan Giulietti-Schmitt, USA

 

2012 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 2012 Prudential US Figure Skating Championships in San Jose, California. In pairs, the new team of Caydee Denney and John Coughlin won gold, followed by the other new team of Mary Beth Marley and Rockne Brubaker. Crowd favorite and Olympians Amanda Evora and Mark Ladwig won the bronze. In dance, it was a repeat of the top two finishes from last year with Meryl Davis and Charlie White winning gold and Maia and Alex Shibutani winning silver. Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue won bronze. For the ladies, Ashley Wagner (FINALLY!) won her US title, followed by Alissa Czisny and Agnes Zawadzki. Olympians Rachael Flatt and Mirai Nagasu finished sixth and seventh, respectively. For the men, my favorite Jeremy Abbott won gold, Adam Rippon the silver, and Ross Miner won the bronze. Next up...the World Championships in Nice, France from March 26 - April 1.

Top 10 results for senior pairs:

Rank	Name	SP	FS	Points
1	Caydee Denney, Broadmoor SC/John Coughlin, KS City FSC	3	1	189.70
2	Mary Beth Marley, DuPage FSC/Rockne Brubaker, All Year FSC	1	2	186.07
3	Amanda Evora, Southwest FL FSC/Mark Ladwig, Red River Valley FSC	2	3	178.98
4	Gretchen Donlan, SC Of Boston/Andrew Speroff, SC Of Boston	5	4	171.61
5	Marissa Castelli, SC Of Boston/Simon Shnapir, SC Of Boston	4	7	168.81
6	Ashley Cain, Stars FSC of TX/Joshua Reagan, Stars FSC of TX	7	5	166.65
7	Andrea Poapst, Broadmoor SC/Christopher Knierim, Broadmoor SC	6	6	166.38
8	Felicia Zhang, SC of NY/Nathan Bartholomay, University of DE FSC	9	8	156.57
9	Tiffany Vise, Broadmoor SC/Don Baldwin, Los Angeles FSC	10	9	140.97
10	Alexa Scimeca, DuPage FSC/Ivan Dimitrov, Individual Member	8	11	132.62

Top 10 results for senior dance:

Rank	Name	SD	FD	Points
1	Meryl Davis, Arctic FSC / Charlie White, Detroit SC	1	1	191.54
2	Maia Shibutani, SC of New York / Alex Shibutani, Arctic FSC	2	2	178.84
3	Madison Hubbell, Detroit SC / Zachary Donohue, Detroit SC	3	3	151.60
4	Lynn Kriengkrairut, All Year FSC / Logan Giulietti-Schmitt, Ann Arbor FSC	4	4	148.55
5	Madison Chock, All Year FSC / Evan Bates, Ann Arbor FSC	5	5	145.08
6	Anastasia Cannuscio, University of DE FSC / Colin McManus, SC Of Boston	6	7	137.37
7	Anastasia Olson, Detroit SC / Jordan Cowan, All Year FSC	7	6	137.08
8	Emily Samuelson, Ann Arbor FSC / Todd Gilles, All Year FSC	8	8	135.99
9	Isabella Cannuscio, University of DE FSC / Ian Lorello, University of DE FSC	10	9	130.35
10	Charlotte Lichtman, Arctic FSC / Dean Copely, All Year FSC	9	10	129.22

Top 10 results for senior ladies:

Rank	Name	SP	FS	Points
1	Ashley Wagner, SC of Wilmington	3	1	187.02
2	Alissa Czisny, Detroit SC	2	2	180.00
3	Agnes Zawadzki, Broadmoor SC	1	7	174.10
4	Caroline Zhang, All Year FSC	4	3	173.19
5	Christina Gao, Northern Kentucky SC	6	5	166.36
6	Rachael Flatt, Broadmoor SC	9	4	164.98
7	Mirai Nagasu, Pasadena FSC	5	8	163.99
8	Angela Wang, Salt Lake Figure Skating	16	6	158.66
9	Vanessa Lam, All Year FSC	7	9	157.62
10	Kiri Baga, FSC of Bloomington	14	10	149.38

Top 10 results for senior men:

Rank	Name	SP	FS	Points
1	Jeremy Abbott, Detroit SC	1	1	273.58
2	Adam Rippon, SC of NY	2	2	240.87
3	Ross Miner, SC of Boston	4	3	230.32
4	Armin Mahbanoozadeh, WA FSC	3	6	224.63
5	Douglas Razzano, Coyotes SC of AZ	8	4	223.38
6	Stephen Carriere, SC Of Boston	9	7	213.41
7	Keegan Messing, AK Assoc of Figure Skaters	5	12	212.47
8	Max Aaron, Broadmoor SC	6	13	211.15
9	Jason Brown, Skokie Valley SC	7	14	209.16
10	Scott Dyer, All Year FSC	13	9	207.97

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