The Skating Scene offers interesting
behind the scenes stories, photos,
interviews and historical articles in the
sport of figure skating.
Current Feature Article:
A Legendary Night
2014 Olympic Winter Games
Photos © George S. Rossano
News from the Southwest Pacific Region
Clubs of the SWP region are invited to send us news items for inclusion here.
(27 Jan 2015) The Escondido FSC has secured the Ice
Town Carlsbad rink as an official secondary
rink for their club.
Escondido Ice-Plex will remain
their primary rink.
Along with the addition of this rink, the
club has changed its name to The North County Figure Skating Club.
SWP REGIONAL 2015 COMPETITION CALENDAR
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Feb. 14-15
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Los Angeles FSC Adult Mid-Winter Open
Championships
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Artesia CA
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Feb. 21 – 22
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OPEN
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Feb. 28 – Mar. 1
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OPEN
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Mar. 7 – 8
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OPEN
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Mar. 15
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Glacier Falls FSC Basic Skills and Showcase
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Paramount CA |
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Mar. 20 – 22
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OPEN
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Mar. 28 – 29
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OPEN
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Apr. 3 – 4
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OPEN (Easter
Weekend)
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Apr. 10 – 12
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SC of Phoenix Fiesta Skate
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Peoria AZ
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Apr. 17 – 19
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OPEN
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Apr. 24 – 26
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La Jolla FSC Open Championships
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La Jolla CA
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Apr. 30 – 5/3
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USFS Governing Council
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Colorado Springs CO
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May. 8 – 10
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South Bay FSC Open Champs
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Torrance CA
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May. 15 – 17
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Los Angeles FSC California Champs
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Artesia CA
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May 22 – 24
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OPEN
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May. 29 – 31
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All Year FSC Open Champs
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Ontario CA
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Jun. 6 – 7
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Los Angeles FSC Showcase for Skaters
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Burbank CA
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Jun. 12 – 14
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OPEN
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Jun. 19 – 21
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So-Cal Interclub Open Championships
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Paramount CA
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Jun. 26 – 28
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FSC of Southern California Open
Championships
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El Segundo CA
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Jul. 3 – 5
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OPEN (4th of July
Weekend)
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Jul. 10 – 12
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Los Angeles FSC Open Champs
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Burbank CA
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Jul. 17 – 19
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Coyotes SC of Arizona Cactus Classic
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Scottsdale AZ
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Jul. 24 – 26
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Skate La Grande Championships
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San Diego CA
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Jul. 29 – Aug. 2
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Glacier Falls FSC Summer Classic
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Anaheim CA |
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Aug. 6 – 9
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OPEN
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Aug. 14 -16
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Desert FSC of Arizona Ice vClassic
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Tempe AZ
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Aug. 21 – 23
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Orange County FSC Open Championships
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Yorba Linda CA
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Aug. 21 – 23
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Flagstaff FSC Ice in the Pines
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Flagstaff AZ
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Aug. 28 – 30
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Escondido FSC Hidden Valley Open
Championships
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Escondido CA
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Sep. 3 – 6
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All Year FSC Golden West Championships
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Ontario CA
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Sep. 11 – 13
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Rim of the World FSC Open Championships
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Paramount CA
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Sep. 18 – 20
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Pasadena FSC Open Championships
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Pasadena CA
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Sep. 25 – 27
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So-Cal Inter-Club Invitational Series Final
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Paramount CA
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Oct. 2 – 4
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Tri-Valley FSC West Coast Open Championships
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Valencia CA
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Oct. 10 – 13
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2016 Southwest Pacific Regionals
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Pasadena CA
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Oct. 17 – 18
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OPEN
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Oct. 24 – 25
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Arrowhead FSC Open Championships
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Ontario CA
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Oct. 31 – Nov. 1
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OPEN
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Nov. 7
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SC of Phoenix Autumn Antics
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Peoria AZ
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Nov. 14 – 15
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OPEN
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Nov. 18 – 22
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2016 Pacific Coast Sectionals
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Burbank CA
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Nov. 28 – 29
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OPEN
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Jan. 16 – 24, 2016
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U.S. National Championships
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St. Paul MN
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Host cities for 2015/16 Qualifying Competition
Regionals
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HOST CITY
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DATES
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North Atlantic
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Lake Placid, N.Y.
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Oct. 3-6, 2015
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Southwestern
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Independence, Mo.
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Oct. 3-6, 2015
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Central Pacific
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San Jose, Calif.
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Oct. 3-6, 2015
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Northwest Pacific
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Seattle
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Oct. 10-13, 2015
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Upper Great Lakes
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Pleasant Prairie, Wis.
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Oct. 10-13, 2015
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Southwest Pacific
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Pasadena, Calif.
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Oct. 10-13, 2015
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South Atlantic
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Aston, Pa.
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Oct. 17-20, 2015
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New England
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Burlington, Vt.
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Oct. 17-20. 2015
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Eastern Great Lakes
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Fort Wayne, Ind.
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Oct. 17-20, 2015
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Sectionals
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Eastern
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Simsbury, Conn.
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Nov. 18-22, 2015
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Midwestern
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Cleveland, Ohio
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Nov. 18-22, 2015
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Pacific Coast
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Burbank, Calif.
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Nov. 18-22, 2015
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2014 Glacier Falls Summer Classic IJS Results
2014 Glacier Falls Summer Classic 6.0 Results
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In the News:
2015 Four Continents Championships
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2015 European Championships
Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron from France are the New
European Ice Dance Champions - After
their success in the last few months, it was no big surprise that
Gabriella Papadakis (18) and Guillaume Cizeron (20) from France are
the new European ice dance champions with 179.97 points. At European
championships, the points are given in the same level as at Worlds
and not as inflated as at many national competitions. Therefore the
points of the winners cannot be compared with the points for
Chock & Bates or Weaver & Poje at their national championships. The
meteoric rise of this season’s French shooting stars continued. They
are only in their second senior season. At their first Junior Grand
Prix five years ago they were last and at their first Junior Worlds
in 2010 only 22nd.
At last season’s European championships they were 15th
and at the World championships in Japan they took the 13th
place.
Fernandez Wins
Third European Title - For the third time in a
row, Javier Fernandez from Spain took the title of a European champion,
this time with 262.49 points. The bronze medal winner of the last two
World championships had had a small injury on his left foot a week before
the championships during an off-ice training session, but he said it did
prevent him from training only for a few days.
Russian Ladies Sweep Europeans Podium
- Eliziveta Tuktamysheva confirmed her comeback this season with a
brilliant performance at the European championship in Stockholm and won
with 210.40 points, the highest number of points she has ever gotten.
Russia
Sweeps Pairs Podium, Kavaguti & Smirnov Take Gold
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Like in the
ladies competition there was a Russian sweep, but nevertheless there
was a surprise. Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov, the favorites, did
not win. Instead, European champions in 2015 are Yuko Kavaguti and
Alexander Smirnov from St. Petersburg, long time students of
legendary Tamara Moskvina, with 207.67 points, five years after
their last victory at European championships.
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Grand Prix Final a
Great Success -
The Grand Prix Final took place in Barcelona, Spain from December 10
to 14. I had never attended a Grand Prix Final before, nor I had
been in Barcelona. I must say it was definitely a great week.
Barcelona is a wonderful city and the Spanish people very friendly
and full of life. By Sonia Bianchetti.
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Gymnastics Questions Code of Points, Laments Loss of Artistry -
When IJS was first being forced down everyone's
throat ... no, no, "introduced" ... it was repeatedly pointed out that
gymnastics was going down the same road adopting a "code of points'
scoring system, to show just what a good mainstream idea IJS was.
Since then, gymnastics has experienced the same problems that have befallen skating
due to using a code of points scoring system. But while the ISU
remains steadfast in embracing a system that has done more harm than
good, gymnastics appears to be wising up and willing to admit it
made some mistakes and make changes.
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News Nuggets
Past News Nuggets are in the Archive
Jan 25. - Ashley Wagner declines
her selection to the Four Continents Championships in order to focus on
training for the World Championships. She was replaced by Samantha
Cesario. “After further consideration, my coaches and I have decided
to focus on my training for the World Championships,” Wagner said. “The U.S.
Championships were a great event for me but were also physically and
mentally taxing and I feel that the extra training time will benefit me
going into Worlds.”
Jan. 25 - Skate Canada team assignments announced.
Four Continents Figure Skating Championships
Men
Nam Nguyen
Jeremy Ten
Liam Firus
Ladies
Gabrielle Daleman
Alaine Chartrand
Véronik Mallet
Ice Dance
Kaitlyn Weaver & Andrew Poje
Piper Gilles & Paul Poirier
Alexandra
Paul & Mitchell Islam
Pairs
Meagan Duhamel & Eric Radford
Lubov Ilyushechkina & Dylan Moscovitch
Kirsten Moore-Towers & Michael Marinaro
World Junior Figure Skating Championships
Men
Roman Sadovsky
Nicolas Nadeau
Ladies
Selena Zhao
Kim DeGuise-Léveillée
Ice Dance
Mackenzie Bent & Garrett MacKeen
Madeline Edwards & ZhaoKai Pang
Pairs
Julianne Séguin & Charlie Bilodeau
Mary Orr & Phelan Simpson
Shalena Rau & Sébastien Arcieri
World Figure Skating Championships
Men
Nam Nguyen
Jeremy Ten
Ladies
Gabrielle Daleman
Alaine Chartrand
Ice Dance
Kaitlyn Weaver & Andrew Poje
Piper Gilles & Paul Poirier
Alexandra
Paul & Mitchell Islam
Pairs
Meagan Duhamel & Eric Radford
Lubov Ilyushechkina & Dylan Moscovitch
Julianne Séguin & Charlie Bilodeau
Jan. 24 - Toller Cranston, six-time
Canadian champion from 1971 to 1975 and Olympic bonze medalist, passed away at 65 years of age in San Miguel, Mexico
where he had lived for many years. He was also 1974 World bronze
medalst , and silver medalist at the 1971 North American Championships, the
last year that competition was held.
Cranston was a modern pioneer of artistic skating
and in his later years earned renown as a painter.
Jan. 16 - Italian figure skater, and
2014 Olympic bronze medalist Carolina
Kostner has been banned for 16-months after Italian officials found her
guilty of assisting ex-boyfriend Alex Schwazer in covering up his doping.
Kostner admitted she lied to
officials when they arrived at her home looking for Schwazer so that
he could provide a sample for a drug test.
She told them he was not around but claims that she did not know he
was using performance-enhancing drugs.
Kostner is appealing the
ban to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, and was quoted in the
press saying "I lied on his request. But I never, never covered for
him, because I had no idea what he was doing."
Ah, the things we do for love.
Dec. 4 -
Gracie Gold (USA), withdraws from Grand Prix Final in Barcelona, due to a
stress fracture in her left foot. She will be replaced by Rika Hongo
(JPN) who finished seventh in the Grand Prix standings.
Dec. 2 -
Don Laws, distinguished American figure skating coach died of heart failure
at age 85. Laws was Junior champion in singles and dance, and was
coach to notable skaters Scott Hamilton, Tiffany Chin, Michael Weiss and
Patrick Chan.
Dec. 1 -
Two-time Olympian David Santee, U.S. Figure Skating official and
management organizer and Anne Gerly and
choreographer Ricky Harris are elected to
the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame Class of 2015. Their inductions will be
held during the U.S. Figure Skating Championships held Jan. 17-25, 2015 in
Greensboro, North Carolina.
January Competitions
7 - 10 Jan
- Mentor Nestle Torun Cup, Torun, Poland
20 - 24 Jan
- 8th Europa Cup Skate Helena, Belgrade,
Serbia
25 - 30 Jan
- 12th Winter European Youth Olympic
Festival, Dornbirn, Austria
26 Jan - 1 Feb
- European Championships -
Stockholm, Sweden
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