(1 March 2013)

Joshua Farris, Shotaro Omori and Jason Brown, the American youths who took the top three places after the Mens Short Program on Thursday, couldn’t stop smiling here in Milan, as they took the top three places in the large field of 37 competitors from 32 countries.

Now they face an even greater challenge, with the pressure on to maintain their top-of-the-pile status. And they have to do that while sporting huge grins, explaining how they are delighted with their main rivals’ successes. That’s not easy in a sport which is very competitive, sometimes lonely, occasionally unfair, and always very, very demanding physically.

“We’re a team,” they all divulge, in one variation after another. “We cheer for each other. It’s Team USA. We support each other. We want everyone to do their best and then it’s up to the judges.”

There was a time, when the world senior podium was dominated by U.S. Men, but that was a long, long time ago. In 1951, it was Dick Button for gold, James Grogan for Senior and Hayes Alan Jenkins for bronze. In 1955 & 1956 it was Jenkins, Ronnie Robertson and Hayes Alan’s younger brother, David. In 1957 it was David, Tim Brown, and Charles Snelling.

Those were the days!! But they are long gone. Could a result like today’s hint that such times could resume? Well, it’s certainly a hopeful sign!

Farris, Omori & Brown are all lying well ahead of their rivals with Michael Christian Martinez, of the Philippines, who drew to skate last of the 37 entries and did surprisingly well, placing fourth, over three points behind Brown but almost four points ahead of competitors from the powerhouse countries. Two Russians, two Chinese and a Japanese are all very close making up the next five slots, with the Canadians are buried in 14^th & 15^th places.  Those who finished 25^th have unceremoniously been ushered to the exit!

1. SP 75.84 (41.45+34.39) Joshua Farris, from Colorado Springs, is riding high, in first place by a pretty decisive 5.02 points. He’s been in this position before. Last year, the 18-year-old who was born in Renton in Washington State and now trains in Colorado Springs, was in the lead but not by such a substantial amount.

Then, in 2012, in Belarus, Han Yan of China was lying second but was able to overtake him. Yan, who recently won bronze in the Four Continents Championships, was entered to defend his title here, but he was withdrawn over a week ago without his Association giving an explanation.

Farris, who finished fourth in this season’s U.S. Senior Championship, performed to the Prelude of Bach’s Unaccompanied Cello Suite, played by Yo Yo Ma. He soared into his first element, a +1.29 triple Axel followed by a +0.80 triple Lutz to triple toe loop. His flying camel spin was Level 4 with +0.50 GoE.

He had had problems with his triple flip in the warm-up, and, in the actual competition, the landing was a bit shaky. He lost -0.70 from its base value but this was his only error. His other two spins and the steps were smoothly executed and earned the maximum Level 4. Both his element and component scores were the highest.

About the flip problem, Farris explained, “Basically after the warm up my coach (Damon Allen) was like, ‘Rely on your training.’ I’ve done numerous clean short programs. I just let my muscle memory take over and that’s kind of how I recovered from that warm up. I felt good about the skate. Right now, I’m planning on putting everything in there in the Free. In my training, I’ve been doing clean programs with everything in.”

2. SP 70.82 (39.75+31.07) Shotaro Omori, who won the silver in the recent U.S. Junior championship, certainly looked happy but in a shell shocked kind of way. The many Japanese press members here are just fascinated with his obviously Far Eastern appearance. He said, “Both my parents are Japanese and emigrated. I was born in the United States (in La Miranda, California).” He turned 17 on October 23rd and was ninth in the World Junior championship last year.

Omori’s “Miss Tango” routine, which was choreographed by Cindy Stuart, opened with a +1.43 triple Axel, followed by a +0.30 triple Lutz to triple toe loop and a +0.29 Level 3 change foot sit spin. His triple flip got a slight negative (-0.30) GoE. His two other spins were the maximum Level 4 with +0.21 and +0.50 while his steps were Level 3 with +0.50.  His element score was the second highest (behind Farris) but his components were only third best (behind both his teammates). The total score surpassed his previous Season’s Best by more than 12 points.

“I am very surprised that I am in top three. I feel very honored to be up with my teammates. Josh and Jason are definitely skaters I look up to. I felt really good talking to Tammy Gambill (who coaches him in Riverside, CA) before the competition. She just wanted me to relax and really focus on what I had to do to complete each element. That went well.” Omori was fourth in both his Junior Grand Prix assignments in Istanbul and in Chemnitz.

3. SP 70.06 (36.62+33.44) Jason Brown, who placed eighth in the U.S. Senior champions in Omaha, turned 18 on December 15, opened his routine, set to “Question of U” with a +0.86 triple Axel. However, after being forced to execute a double three turn after his triple Lutz, which took him extremely close to the barrier, he reduced the second jump of his combination to a double toe loop. Everything else received positive Grades of Execution. Two of his spins earned the maximum Level 4 but his steps and the final combination spin were Level 3.

Brown, who is taught by Kori Ade and Rob Pea in Northbrook, Illinois, won bronze in this event last year after being 7^th the year before. He said, “I felt good going into the Lutz and maybe I thought I was too close to the boards. After that happened I tried to move on and just look forward and try to make everything else as good as it could be. I was very excited about the opening and the Axel. That was definitely something that was a big relief and big burden off my chest to come here and land the triple Axel. I think we have a really deep field in the U.S. right now. It’s been really competitive just to make it on the Junior World team. To have an American sweep in the short is absolutely amazing. We hope we can stay this way for the long.”

4. SP 67.01 (36.73+30.28) Michael Christian Martinez, the Philippines, is trained by his mother in the Philippines but does come to the United State for a couple of months a year to train in California with John Nicks and Ilya Kulik. The 16-year-old opened with a+0.57 triple Axel and a +0.30 triple Lutz to double toe loop. But his triple flip received an “e” for wrong edge takeoff and he lost -1.20 for this error. All three spins were Level 4. His straight line steps were Level 3.

North of the border (Canada,  eh!):

15. SP 54.04 (28.19+25.85) Michell Gordon, who was the Canada Junior champion last year and placed seventh in Senior nationals this season, is a 16-year-old from Vancouver, training at the Connaught Skating Club with Keegan & Eileen Murphy. He performed to “The Untouchables” in a routine that has great promise, but he just had one of those days. Although he didn’t fall, he was saddled with minuses on his triple Axel, triple Lutz in which he didn’t get airborne for the second jump and triple flip which got an “e” for wrong edge take-off.

16. SP 53.43 (24.97+29+46 -1) Nam Nguyen, 14, was sixth in the resent Canadian Senior championships. Trained by Brian Orser in Toronto, the 14-year-old shows great performing potential, skating an entertaining routine set to Cole Porter’s “The Ritz’ Roll ’n Roll” and “Red Blues”. However, his jumps are still very small. He fell and got two arrows downgrading his triple Axel attempt.