Lysacek still riding whirlwind of golden fame

I caught up with Evan Lysacek when the Olympic figure skating champion blew into Chicago for a couple days to promote the March 12 Stars on Ice appearance at Rosemont's Allstate Arena.

This was your one-size-fits-all promotion, what touring figure skaters have been doing for years. Blow into a city, skate with some kids, do print and TV interviews to sell tickets for the ice show coming soon to a local arena.

He put on hockey skates to join a couple of dozen kids on the synthetic ice of the Skating in the Sky rink on the 94th floor of the John Hancock building. After that and an autograph session, Lysacek went to the building's roof for a photo shoot.

The dizzying heights of fame.

Here is Evan's Top 10 list of things the Olympic gold medal allowed him to experience.

--Philip Hersh

Photo: Evan Lysacek at opening night of Disney On Ice's "Princess Wishes" at Madison Square Garden on January 21. Credit: Stephen Lovekin / Getty Image

Four Continents skate doesn't boost U.S. slim medal chances for worlds

So what did the Four Continents Championships reveal about U.S. chances at next month's World Figure Skating Championships in Tokyo?

Precious little more than what I already knew after last month's U.S. Championships, and that wasn't good.

The results from the Taipei meet that ended Saturday only reinforced my feeling that ice dancers Meryl Davis and Charlie White will be the lone U.S. medalists at worlds.  Davis and White took Four Continents gold in a walkover after reigning world and Olympic champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir of Canada withdrew after winning the short dance because Virtue had a thigh injury.

I'll make a few more observations, now that I have had time to look at some of the Four Continents video posted by the dedicated fans on the newsgroup Figure Skating Universe. 

Those fans snagged the video from Asian television networks, since there was not even live Internet coverage of the event in the United States.   Shame on U.S. Figure Skating for not spending the pittance it would have cost to get Four Continents live feed rights for its own web property, icenetwork.com.

The top finishers of every event at U.S. nationals but men's singles went to Four Continents, where the opposition included many of the leading skaters from China, Japan and Canada -- but none from Europe, which has its own championships.

Women's singles had the best field, including two skaters with world titles (Miki Ando and Mao Asada of Japan), three with U.S. titles (Mirai Nagasu, Rachael Flatt, Alissa Czisny)  and the reigning Canadian champion (Cynthia Phaneuf).  So I'm confining my comments to that event.

Both Ando and Asada skated impressively and deserved the top two places, although Ando's utter emotionlessness in the free skate was in jarring discord with the romanticism, intensity and passion of her music, Grieg's "A Minor Piano Concerto."

Reigning world champion Asada showed she has recaptured her jumping skills after a decision to rework technique under a new coach had turned the Grand Prix portion of her season into a messy exercise.  Not only that, but Asada's feathery footwork sequence in the long program perfectly captured the essence of her music, Lizst's "Dreams of Love."

Nagasu, who finished third, made it abundantly clear she is the best U.S. woman skater, her third place at nationals notwithstanding. 

How Nagasu must rue the brain cramps on two no-brainer elements at the end of the free skate at nationals, a spin she botched so thoroughly it was worth zero points on the scoresheet and a double-axel jump so poorly executed it earned just 2.63.

Philip Hersh: U.S. figure skating pair Mary Beth Marley and Rockne Brubaker going places fast

It was a long trip for an apparently insignificant competition, but one that pairs figure skaters Mary Beth Marley and Rockne Brubaker hoped might pay a big dividend.

Marley and Brubaker went to the GAM Nestle Nesquik Cup in Torun, Poland, early last month. It was not only their first international competition but also their first competition period, although calling it that was a bit of an exaggeration.

They would compete in Torun against only one opponent, a very weak Bulgarian team whom the U.S. pair beat by 63 points.

And that was the easy part.

Marley, 15, skated in Poland with a 103-degree fever and came back to her Southern California training base still washed out by the illness, which didn't bode well with the U.S. Championships just three weeks away in North Carolina.

But the first-year pair from suburban Chicago -- she is from Downers Grove, he from Algonquin -- also brought back a score good enough to qualify for participation in major international competitions.  

Which is a good thing, because they will suddenly find themselves at such a meet next week.

Marley and Brubaker learned Friday that they were going to the Four Continents Championship in Taipei as replacements for Caydee Denney and Jeremy Barrett after Barrett needed 42 stitches in his right calf for a cut made by Denney's skate blade.

"Things work out for a reason," Brubaker said when I reached him by phone Saturday afternoon. "I feel bad for Caydee and Jeremy but I'm happy we're going."

After finishing fourth at nationals, Marley and Brubaker thought they might get one of the three U.S. places at Four Continents, especially because the top two teams would be returning to Asia a month later for the World Championships in Tokyo.

But the top three teams all decided to go to Taipei, so Marley and Brubaker settled for the satisfaction of knowing how far they had come since she had a tryout with him last August.

"One of the things Mr. Nicks [their coach, John Nicks] said afterward is this is really going to set you up well for next year," Brubaker said. "That is what we kind of came to do -- get ourselves out there, let people know we're here. Next year, our goals will be a little bit different."

Before U.S. Figure Skating named its Four Continents team, I had asked Brubaker what going to that event would mean.

"It would be a nice bonus," he said, "a way to put our faces on the [international] scene. Sometimes when people see you for the first they don't know how to judge you."

Brubaker, 24, finished second at Four Continents last year with Keauna McLaughlin, who decided soon after to retire from competitive skating. They had failed to make the 2010 Olympic team after staggering into fifth place at last year's nationals.

Brubaker, a two-time U.S. champion with McLaughlin, was prepared to take a year off until USFS high performance director Mitch Moyer suggested Marley as a possible partner.

Now he and Marley are rushing to retrain their competitive programs before leaving Sunday for Four Continents. The pairs event begins Thursday.

"We have been skating since nationals, but it mainly has been to work on individual elements," he said. "Four Continents was so close to nationals that we were more concerned about having the programs still ready if something happened that sent us to worlds.

"We trained our programs today and didn't feel out of shape. I think we'll be just fine."

From tryout to Torun to Taipei. Marley and Brubaker are going places fast.

"If anyone had suggested to me last August that this could happen, I would have stared in disbelief," Brubaker said.

-- Philip Hersh

Photo: Mary Beth Marley and Rockne Brubaker perform their short program at January’s U.S. Championships in Greensboro, N.C. Credit: Chuck Burton / Associated Press

Skater Jason Brown hopes to follow in Evan Lysacek's footsteps

Here are my last words on the 2011 U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

And the first I ever have written about Jason Brown.

But they certainly won't be the last, given how well the 16-year-old sophomore at Illinois' Highland Park High School skated to finish ninth in his senior-level debut at nationals.

Has this put him on a similar path to that of another Chicago suburbanite, Evan Lysacek, the 2010 Olympic men's champion?

Brown's coach, Kori Ade, chooses to see it that way.

Asked if the next Olympics would come too soon for Brown, she said, "I don't think so'' and invoked Lysacek's name.

"That's our goal,'' Ade said of the 2014 Winter Games. "The perfect plan would be for Jason to do what Evan did and go twice.''

Brown, who turned 16 less than two months ago, won't get too far ahead of himself, insisting he is taking things a year at a time.

He does admit to looking at Lysacek's career arc as an example.

"It's great to see he was able to do it,'' Brown said, "so you know it actually isn't too much of a fantasy or a dream to get there from where I am.''

There are a number of similarities.

Lysacek was a 15-year-old high school sophomore when he finished 12th at his U.S. senior debut in 2001.

Both Lysacek and Brown moved up to seniors after winning the junior national title the year before.

Both had yet to master the triple axel jump, a litmus test for senior skaters, in their first year at the top level.

Both were in the midst of growth spurts: Lysacek, now 6 feet, 2 inches, was on his way from 5-3 to 5-9 by his second senior nationals.  Brown, now 5-5, said he had grown 4 inches since the 2010 nationals.

There are differences too.  Lysacek had six trips to senior nationals before his Olympics in 2006, when he finished fourth, one missed jump from a medal.  Brown will be able to have just four senior nationals before the 2014 Olympics.

But Lysacek's barely noticed 11th-place free skate at his first senior nationals was a far cry from the dazzling effort Sunday that earned Brown seventh in the free skate and rousing acclaim from the Greensboro Coliseum crowd.

"It was a dream come true to get the audience to stand,'' Brown said.

With his long hair tied in a ponytail that bounced off his neck as he flew around the rink, Brown had huge jumps, striking speed on his speeds and leg extension worthy of a ballet leading man.

Brown, second youngest of the 22 men in the field, finished just .94 behind two-time U.S. champion Jeremy Abbott and beat 2009 U.S. runner-up Brandon Mroz in the free skate.

"That is the future of men's figure skating,'' three-time national medalist Tonia Kwiatkowski said in her IceNetwork.com commentary on Brown's free skate.

There were only two negative grades from judges among the 180 marks Brown received for technical-element execution -- scored from minus-three to plus-three -- in his short program and free skate.

Both minuses came on a flying camel spin of the highest difficulty level in the short program.   Then Brown piled up more total points for the three spins in the free skate than any of the eight men ahead of him in the final standings.

With the problems caused by his growth, Brown and Ade, his coach of 11 years, decided to put off trying the triple axel for another season.

"In his first year as a senior, it was more important to show everyone he could skate,''  Ade said.  "Jason has really proved he is a solid competitor.''

Brown goes on from here to the World Junior Championships, Feb. 28 to March 6 in South Korea.  He likely will continue to compete on the Junior Grand Prix circuit for a season or two more.

That's just what Evan Lysacek did.

Photo: Jason Brown spinning in the free skate at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Jan. 30, 2011.  Credit: Michelle Harvath / U.S. Figure Skating

Philip Hersh: World Figure Skating Championships unlikely to produce a big haul for U.S.

One medal.

That's what the United States figures to get at the March World Figure Skating Championships.

That's all that the results -- and quality of skating -- from the U.S. Championships that ended  Sunday would augur.

One medal would be the same as last year, when the outlook was better, even if you don't include eventual Olympic champion Evan Lysacek  (who skipped worlds) in the equation.

It would be the fourth time in five years dating to 2007 that Team USA has won just one medal.  That lone bronze medal in 2007 had been the lowest U.S. total at worlds since 1994.

The difference is the one medal this year could be special, since Meryl Davis and Charlie White, who earned the sole prize (silver) in 2010,  have a shot at the first ice dance gold in U.S. history.

Whether they can get it should be clearer after next month's Four Continents Championship, where reigning world and Olympic champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir of Canada plan a season debut delayed by her injury.

If Davis and White can't beat the Canadians at Four Continents , it's unlikely they will do it at worlds a month later in Tokyo.

And here is the outlook in the other three disciplines:

MEN -- The story here will be whether the United States can hold onto a third spot for the 2012 worlds.  To do that, the top two U.S. finishes have to add up to 13 or fewer points.

It doesn't look good.

Since he did not come out of retirement until October, new U.S. champion Ryan Bradley has not done any international events this season.  The last memory international judges have of Bradley is that of an injured skater who staggered to 18th at the 2010 worlds.  He was 15th at his other world appearance in 2007.

While Bradley's victory at nationals was deserved, his free skate was sloppy, and he skated much of it at about 2 miles per hour.  The two months between now and worlds should give him a chance to build stamina that was lacking because he began serious training so late.

The other two members of the team for Tokyo, world meet rookies Richard Dornbush and Ross Miner, could surprise if a) each feels as little pressure as he did as a podium longshot at nationals; and b) each skates an error-free program as he did at nationals.

Realistically, though, either would succeed by breaking into the top 10 at worlds.

After all, Dornbush still was on the Junior Grand Prix circuit this season, and Miner finished seventh and ninth in his two senior Grand Prix appearances, where each field included only about one-third of the world's top men.

WOMEN -- The U.S. medal drought in the women's event at worlds, four years, already is the longest since Hedy Stenuf's bronze in 1938 ended a seven-year shutout.

Will the top three U.S. women skaters still be there in 2014?

A couple hours after the women's final Saturday at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, I was in a group of longtime figure skating writers discussing what we might expect between now and the next Olympics, and one of my colleagues said, "I don't think any of the top three will be in Sochi."

My first reaction was that it sounded ridiculous that neither Alissa Czisny nor Rachael Flatt nor Mirai Nagasu would make the 2014 Olympic team.

The longer we talked, though, the less implausible it seemed.

Why?

First of all, none of the three medalists at nationals in the year after the 2006 Olympics -- Kimmie Meissner, Emily Hughes and Czisny -- made it to Vancouver in 2010.  Meissner got injured, and both Hughes (ninth) and Czisny (10th) were also-rans at last year's nationals, when the Olympic team was selected.

Nagasu, still a junior-level skater in 2007, and Flatt, who debuted at senior nationals that year but was a junior internationally, made the 2010 Olympics, finishing fourth and seventh, then seventh and ninth, respectively, at worlds.

Abbott out of shadows, but only briefly

For seven years, two names had been fixtures on the awards stand at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

Either Johnny Weir (three titles, six podium finishes) or Evan Lysacek (two titles, six podiums) or both (five times) were medalists at every nationals since 2003.  Their rivalry became a highlight.

Both will be in Greensboro, N.C., this weekend -- Weir to get Skating magazine’s "Reader’s Choice" award Saturday, Olympic champion Lysacek to skate in an exhibition Sunday.

Neither is competing, and their absence from the field makes the men’s event as wide open as it has been in two decades, even if Jeremy Abbott is back seeking a third consecutive title.

After skating well enough Friday to take second in the short program despite low grades for the difficulty of his spins and footwork, Abbott made it clear he is glad to be out of the shadow that Weir and Lysacek cast.

It was a shadow he apparently resented since it kept people from noticing he had beaten them the last two years and skated brilliantly at nationals last year.

"They were never really a thought for me," Abbott said.  "They were just more people that I competed against and two people that got a ton of more attention than the rest of the field, and they are still getting attention.

"So it's nice to be here on my own and get all that attention to myself."

Ironically, Abbott was utterly upstaged later Friday by his one-time training partner, Ryan Bradley, who decided only three months ago to return to competition and won the short program by two points.  The free skate final is Sunday.

Abbott could regain the spotlight with a win Sunday and join Weir as the only men to win three straight national titles since the 1990 end of compulsory figures made outcomes far less predictable.  But he understands that won’t mean much until he improves on a dismal record in international championships –- ninth at the Olympics and both the 2008 and 2009 worlds, fifth against a watered-down field after the 2010 Olympics.

"Winning three in a row would be great," he said.  "For me, it would be better if I could carry it in the international season past nationals for the first time."

In the transformed ice dance event, which no longer includes compulsories and begins with a short dance, Maia and Alex Shibutani made a striking debut on the senior level.

The Michigan-based siblings, junior champions last year, executed three series of high-speed pirouettes, known as twizzles, and earned the highest possible levels for every element as they finished a strong second to Olympic silver medalists and training partners Meryl Davis and Charlie White.

"A lot (of people who had not seen the Shibutanis before today) are thinking, 'Look at them, they are so wonderful,' " Davis said.  "For everyone who has been watching them the last couple years, it’s no surprise."

--Philip Hersh

Photo: Jeremy Abbott in Friday's short program.  Credit: Matthew Stockman / Getty Images

For the record: An earlier version of this post said Jeremy Abbott finished 11th at the Olympics. He finished ninth.

Is 5-foot Courtney Hicks the next big thing in U.S. skating?

Here we are at the first major national event after the Olympics, when everyone's thoughts turn toward finding the next big thing (who usually is rather small) in U.S. women's figure skating.

The place everyone looks first is the junior women's event -- yes, you can call it the girls' event without being sexist -- at the U.S. Championships.

Anyone who did that this week would have been dazzled by the performances of 15-year-old Courtney Hicks from Chino Hills.  She skated far bigger than her 5-feet, 93 pounds to earn a runaway triumph and the highest women's score since the juniors began using the Code of Points system in 2006.

"She came to this nationals without anyone knowing who she is,'' said John Nicks, her coach.  "She is not leaving that way.''

 Of course, using juniors as a measuring stick can be a tricky business.   Five-time world champion and two-time Olympic medalist Michelle Kwan never won a junior title (yes, I realize she was skating seniors by age 12, but she was ninth in juniors.)  Neither did three-time world medalist and 2006 Olympic runner-up Sasha Cohen.  Nor did Peggy Fleming, Tara Lipinski or Dorothy Hamill, Olympic champions all.

Do the names Sydne Vogel or Sara Wheat ring any bells?  Didn't think so.  But Wheat beat Cohen for the junior title in one post-Olympic year (1999), and Vogel beat the heavily hyped Lipinski in another (1995). And how about 2003 winner Erika Archambault, one of 10 young women soon forgotten after finishing ahead of eventual Olympian Emily Hughes in that post-Olympic-year junior meet?

But what happened in the last post-Olympic season makes it worth giving Hicks' situation a further look -- as did her flawless triple-triple jump combinations in the short and long programs, her rafter-rattling split jump, her speed across the ice and overall physical skills that the 81-year-old Nicks said have made her the most athletic skater he ever has taught.

Bellflower's Vanessa Lam wins Junior Grand Prix figure skating event

Congratulations to 15-year-old Vanessa Lam of Bellflower, who won the women's title at the Junior Grand Prix figure skating event held this weekend in Ostrava, Czech Republic.

Competing in a field of 32, the sophomore honors student at Downey High compiled 156.41 points for her short and long programs. She edged Risa Shoji of Japan, who had 155.23 points.

Lam trains at Anaheim Ice and Westminster Ice, which are part of the Ducks' rink development program. She's coached by Dianne DeLeeuw -- the 1976 Olympic figure skating silver medalist -- and Doug Chapman. She finished eighth in the U.S. junior championships last season after winning the Southwest Pacific regional title.

-- Helene Elliott

 

Kim Yuna finds 'calm, collected' coach in Peter Oppegard

Kim Yuna was in her fourth year of elementary school when she first met Peter Oppegard.

She was with a group of South Korean figure skaters who had been sent to the Ice Castle rink in Lake Arrowhead for a summer session. Oppegard, who had teamed with Jill Watson to win a pairs bronze medal at the 1988 Olympics and three U.S. titles, was building what has become a successful coaching career.

Flash forward to this year. Kim, so graceful and powerful in winning the gold medal at the Vancouver Olympics, split with her coach, Brian Orser, over the summer and moved to Los Angeles to decide her next move. When considering coaches who might guide her to the next phase of her career she remembered Oppegard, now coaching at East West Ice Palace in Artesia.

After skating there for a few weeks Kim asked him to collaborate with her, and they announced their agreement Tuesday in a news conference at the rink. The arrangement will be reviewed each season.
 “I noticed he had a very calm, collected manner that would match my style very well,” Kim said through a translator. “He has a very unique style of leading students and his skaters are very happy.”

Oppegard, 51, has coached pairs and singles skaters to 10 national titles. He’s married to Karen Kwan, sister of Michelle Kwan, the five-time world champion, nine-time U.S. champion and two-time Olympic medalist. The Kwan family owns and operates the Artesia facility.

Kim Yuna picks Peter Oppegard as her new coach

Olympic figure-skating champion Kim Yuna of South Korea and Michelle Kwan have close ties, and the relationship was reinforced Tuesday when Kim announced that Peter Oppegard is her new coach.

Oppegard has been Kwan's brother-in-law since he married her sister, Karen, in 2001. And he coaches at East West Ice Palace, a rink in Artesia owned by the Kwan family.

Read more about Yuna's decision at the Globetotting blog.