No Grand Prix Final leaves competitive questions unanswered - and some uncertainty about upcoming competitions

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No Grand Prix Final leaves competitive questions unanswered - and some uncertainty about upcoming competitions

I love figure skating’s Grand Prix Final. It has six elite entries in each senior discipline, based on qualifying from results on the six-event Grand Prix circuit. No competition session lasting more than an hour, unlike the three-plus-hour sessions at the Olympics and World Championships. And over the years, many stunning performances and record scores.

So, like all those who are interested in the sport, I was disappointed by the Covid-related cancellation of the event scheduled to begin Thursday in Osaka, Japan.

It is the second straight year the global pandemic has led to the Grand Prix Final being cancelled. Last season, the entire series was changed to domestic-only events.

This one would have let us see whether Nathan Chen, invincible from the 2018 Olympics until finishing third at Skate America in October, could win a fourth straight GPF title and reestablish himself as the clear favorite for the upcoming Beijing Olympics. And whether the latest Russian female phenom, Kamila Valieva, could continue her record-setting dominance. And whether the evergreen Chinese pair, Sui Wenjing and Han Cong, could hold off the top Russians. And whether French ice dancers Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron would gain a winning edge over their top rivals before Beijing.

Those questions will go unanswered for the time being. And that leaves questions about competitions to come.

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In speed skater Erin Jackson’s stunning success story, here are chapter and verse

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In speed skater Erin Jackson’s stunning success story, here are chapter and verse

There are so many compelling parts of Erin Jackson’s story it is hard to know which to begin with.

Do you start with Jackson being such a good inline skater she was a four-time world medalist named the U.S. Olympic Committee’s female roller athlete of the year three times?

Or her making the 2018 U.S. Olympic team in long track speed skating about five minutes after she shifted from wheels to blades?

(OK, it took her a little longer, but you get the idea.)

Or her being the first Black woman to make a U.S. Olympic team in long track?

Or her doing that despite coming to the 2018 Olympic trials without having met the qualifying time for the ensuing PyeongChang Winter Games.

Or her getting so many college degrees in so many subjects that Jackson jokingly (or not) thinks she should include “school” when asked to list her hobbies?

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The Olympic skating season so far: Injuries and Russian women (and more Russian women. And more. . .)

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The Olympic skating season so far: Injuries and Russian women (and more Russian women. And more. . .)

A baker’s dozen of takeaways halfway through the Grand Prix season – and just under three months from the start of the 2022 Winter Olympics:

1. The injury list added two big names in the last week: Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan, the two-time reigning OIympic champion, and reigning world bronze medalist Alexandra Trusova of Russia, who won Skate America, both have withdrawn from this week’s NHK Trophy with foot injuries, meaning neither can qualify for the Grand Prix Final Dec. 9-12 in Osaka, Japan.

Others previously on the “disabled list”: Japan’s Rika Kihira, the 2018 Grand Prix Final winner and reigning national champion, withdrew from both her scheduled Grand Prix events, as did reigning U.S. champion Bradie Tennell.

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For Nathan Chen, what happened in Vegas stayed in Vegas

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For Nathan Chen, what happened in Vegas stayed in Vegas

Twenty-eight seconds into his short program at Skate America in Las Vegas a week ago, Nathan Chen found himself with his rear end on the ice.

It wasn’t the first time Chen had fallen in a competition, of course. It actually had happened in his previous individual competition, the 2021 World Championships. And it was on the same opening short program jump, a quadruple lutz, putting him third going into a free skate he easily won to take a third straight world title.

Yet the fall at Skate America last week clearly affected him more. Chen botched his third jumping pass and wound up with his worst short program score since the 2018 Olympics. The desultory free skate (four clean quads notwithstanding) that followed left him third overall, with his lowest total score in 22 international events dating to autumn 2016 and also his first loss since those 2018 Olympics.

That is why Chen chose to go right back to the quad lutz rather than pick an easier jump to open Friday’s short program at Skate Canada in Vancouver.


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ISU investigating "surge of hate" directed at French ice dance team, condemns reported homophobic comments

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ISU investigating "surge of hate" directed at French ice dance team, condemns reported homophobic comments

The president of the French Ice Sports Federation told the International Skating Union that the ISU “can’t remain silent in front of this surge of hate” directed at French ice dancers Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron.

In a letter dated Oct. 12, a copy of which I have obtained, FFSG President Nathalie Péchalat made a forceful appeal for the ISU to take action after several months in which Papadakis and Cizeron “are targeted, not on a sporting level but due to Guillaume(‘s) sexual orientation.”

Cizeron, 2018 Olympic silver medalist and four-time world champion with Papadakis, came out as gay in May 2020.

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