North American Skaters Golden in Beijing

With Japan coming in as the dominant force from the grand prix series they were possibly surprised in Beijing by the rejuvinated force of Alissa Czisny and Patrick Chan, outpacing the field to take top honours in the singles events. Ice Dancers Davis & White, and Germans Savchenko & Szolkowy re-affirmed their dominance on the world stage. (Full results here)

Ladies

USA's Alissa Czisny is doing well to dispel her inconsistency demons and prove herself a global contender- 2 clean and beautifully executed performances gave her a first Grand Prix title ahead of competitors with a bigger jump arsenal, but perhaps less style. "This time I feel like I belong here and I am in the right mind set," said the 23-year-old. "The last time it was overwhelming." Last time Alissa qualified for the grand prix final was 2006.
Carolina Kostner of Italy was second after the short programme and despite mistakes in the free skate she held on to silver ahead of Kanako Murakami of Japan by  JUST 0.01 points. Murakami will be the talked aboout young talent of this season- and a new challenger for a new olympic cycle (I'm sure Mao will be keeping an eye on her progress!

Men's 

Patrick Chan outshined the men's field with personal best free stake and overall scores. The Japanese men were 2nd (Nobunari Oda), 3rd (Takahiko Kozuka) and 4th (Daisuke Takahashi) respectively. Chan will have to face off again against this Japanese powerhouse at the Worlds in March.

Pairs

Savchenko & Szolkowy were unreachable in Beijing, taking gold by over 20 points over home favourites Pang & Tong. Their younger chinese counterparts Sui & Han held off the Russian contingent to take bronze in their first year as senior skaters, these 2 will likely be the future of chinese pairs skating and will want to continue their country's winning trend.

Dance

The Ice Dance season so far has been peppered with injuries and withdrawal, leaving the way clear for Davis and White to clinch every gold waved in- front of them. French pair Pechalat & Bourzat put in strong performances to bridge the gap somewhat between the americans and the rest. Canadians Crone & Poirier bested the rest of the field to take bronze, showing Canada has depth beyond Virtue & Moir.

Junior Grand Prix Final
Russia's class of 2014 made their presence known in beijing, taking the top 2 spots in the ladies event, second in the pairs and the top 4 places in the junior ice dance.
Adelina Sotnikova took the ladies gold ahead of team-mate Elizaveta Tuktamisheva. These 2 may well be competetive rivals heading toards Sochi. USA's Richard Dornbush and Keegan Messing took the top 2 places in the men's event. World Jr Champions Ksenia Monko & Krill Khaliavin took their second straight JGP title and led the Russian dominance of the event. Japanese pair Narumi Takahashi & Mervin Tran topped off their busy and successful fall season with an easy in in the pairs event.