Present and future shock in sparkling nationals short program, with Ilia Malinin bursting into Olympic contention

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Present and future shock in sparkling nationals short program, with Ilia Malinin bursting into Olympic contention

In a span of less than 15 minutes, everyone watching the men’s short program at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships saw a summary of the last decade in men’s singles skating.

You had a 17-year-old, Ilia Malinin, whose Instagram handle is @quadg0d, burst onto the senior nationals scene with a demonstration of why that choice of sobriquet was not self-aggrandizing and how fast a mastery of big jumps can push a skater toward podiums at significant events. He is a young man for these times in the sport.

And next you had a 27-year-old, Jason Brown, who competed in his first senior nationals 11 years ago, using his mastery of movement, expression and edge work as he fights to stay on podiums without the big jumps that bring big rewards in the sport’s judging system. His skating is timeless and yet relatively out of fashion on contemporary score sheets.

Malinin and Brown each was brilliant in his own way during a competition Saturday in which the overall level was extraordinary, with Nathan Chen and Vincent Zhou taking command at the top and others, like Jimmy Ma and Camden Pulkinen, earning career-best scores with performances that commanded full attention.

“That was a pretty incredible competition,” Zhou said, “not just in U.S. history but in relation to ISU international competitions. Definitely an insane, high-level event.”

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Gracie Gold’s comeback yields its most fruitful success in nationals short program

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Gracie Gold’s comeback yields its most fruitful success in nationals short program

It is simple, really, what Gracie Gold wanted out of her eighth and possibly final appearance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

“This nationals for me is the cherry on top of what I consider a pretty successful comeback attempt,” Gold said a day before the women’s singles event began with the short program Thursday in Nashville.

Truth be told, just coming back constituted a considerable success for Gold, given the multiple issues – eating disorders, depression, anxiety – she had dealt with for several years. She missed the 2018 and 2019 nationals and battled just to qualify each of the past three seasons.

At 26, Gold came to this one in a better place competitively than she had been in a long time. At her final qualifying event last November in Georgia, she showed flashes in her short program of the skater who had won national titles in 2014 and 2016 and finished fourth in the 2014 Olympics.

“I’ve had lots of good training over the past two or three months,” Gold said Wednesday. “I have been really proud of myself and my team and all the hard work that we’ve done, so my goal is to really show that and kind of show off a little bit like old times.

“The short program in Georgia was really nice and long overdue. I hope to have a similar outcome tomorrow.”

This one was even nicer – on the score sheet and in the way Gold reacted, a wide smile on her face for nearly the final minute of a 2-minute, 40-second program that ended with the crowd at Bridgestone Arena on its feet to applaud.

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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 Japanese pair, Skate America silver medal is a joyous (and rare) surprise

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For Japanese pair, Skate America silver medal is a joyous (and rare) surprise

In the 32 years since the redoubtable Midori Ito became Japan’s first world figure skating champion, her country has become one of the most decorated in the sport.

All the greatest success has been in singles, climaxed by Yuzuru Hanyu’s consecutive Olympic gold medals in 2014 and 2018.

That background is why the silver medalists were the story in the Skate America pairs’ event Saturday night in Las Vegas.

With their second personal best score in two days, skating with an exuberance and joy that delighted the crowd, Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara became the first Japanese team to win a medal on the Grand Prix circuit in 10 years, equaling the silver won by Narumi Takahashi and Mervin Tran at the NHK Trophy in 2011.

“We weren’t really hoping or aiming for a medal,” Miura said. “We just wanted to show what we were doing in training. We’re obviously surprised we came in second.”

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Vanessa James says she was unaware of former pairs partner's alleged sexual abuse, apologizes for her silence on subject

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Vanessa James says she was unaware of former pairs partner's alleged sexual abuse, apologizes for her silence on subject

Canadian pairs skater Vanessa James insisted Thursday she was not aware that her former partner, Morgan Cipres, had been involved four years ago in alleged sexual abuse of a 13-year-old girl who trained at the same Florida rink.

This was the first time James, who competed for France with Cipres at the 2014 and 2018 Olympics, has addressed the subject. She apologized for silence some may have deemed hurtful.

Speaking during a press conference in advance of next week’s Skate Canada Grand Prix event, James said, “I’m deeply disappointed that my ex-partner would engage in that type of behavior.”

James said she had not thought of making a public statement until now because “it was an ongoing investigation, and it was something that I was not involved in in any way.

“Though I could have or should have supported victims of abuse, people that know me – and I hope the whole world – know I’m a good person, and I condemn that type of behavior.

“I chose not to make a statement, maybe to my regret, but I hope that victims and survivors know I commend their bravery, and I support them and believe them. I am sorry if my silence hurt them in any way.”

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