Skating forward.

Last weekend one of the first 'big name' competitions of the 2010/2011 skating season took place - The Liberty summer competition in Pensylvannia. Universal Sports gave this report of how some of US and Canadian skating's big names did.

Patrick Chan

The two-time world silver medalist accomplished a major first at Liberty - first quad landed in competition.

In the debut of his new short program to "Take Five," Chan opened with an effortless quad toe.

He intended to add the element last season, but a series of injuries and illnesses prevented him from competing the quad in the Olympic season.

Now, with the jump planned in both programs, Chan could be difficult to beat. His ability to weave through a charismatic short program and re-choreographed free skate make a complex scoring system seem simple. Throw in a quad and Chan is in a class with few others.

Ashley Wagner

Wagner debuted a new short program set to Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir." The 2010 U.S. bronze medalist completed a triple flip - double toe combination, but was most excited about landing her triple Lutz.

In past seasons, Wagner was victim to deductions for an incorrect entry-edge. She spent the "off-season" re-learning the Lutz in order to correct her take-off edge.

It appears the hard work paid off, as she did not receive the deduction at Liberty.

With improved technique on the Lutz and a planned triple-triple in the short program, Wagner joins a strong field of U.S. ladies set to compete in the Grand Prix series this fall.

Watch Ashley's video blog about the competition here.

Agnes Zawadzki

The 2010 U.S. junior champ proved she's more than ready to make the jump to senior. The 15-year-old showed maturity in both programs to compliment impressive triple jumps and improved spins.

Zawadzki makes her senior Grand Prix debut at Skate Canada and might surprise there. Her speed across the ice and triple-triple in the short program could put her in contention for a medal.

Bits and Bobs

This is a post made up of all the rendom bits of news that don't seem to fit anywhere else.

The FIG has posted a preview of the upcoming World Acrobatic Gymnastics Championships in Wroclaw, Poland (July 16-18). For Brits the team mainly includes members of the now famous and very talented Spelbound. Best of luck to them all. Read about it here.

Reader Briony rightfully corrected me for saying nothing much was happening in the skating world at the moment. The British Solo Ice Dance Championships are taking place in Sheffield this week.

I have to admit I don't know much about solo dance, even though I have a friend at med-school who competed in it. It seems to my ignorant eyes to be similar in terms of the rules and patterns in the competition (a set dance- eg waltz, tango etc. then a free dance) just without partner. As Bryony pointed out, Solo dance isn't sanctioned by the ISU but is popular in the US and here in the UK. With the usual shortage of partners - it seems like a good idea!


In other sport - runner Caster Semenya is finally being allowed to compete again internationally after almost a year off and a myriad of gender tests. The results of the tests have not been released but, whatever the reason, it'll be great to see her back.



This is old news now, but the USA 2000 olympic gymnastic team are to recieve bronze medals at the 2010 visa championships after the Chinese team were stripped of theirs when Dong Fanxiao was found to be under-age. I found an interesting old fluff piece on youtube about Dong Fanxiao and the Chinese gymnastics system.

US skater Ashley Wagner has a new video blog on the universal sports website. The video also shows Christina Gao and Adam Rippon goofing around back-stage at an ice show. watch it here.

British Gymnastics has now added a great selection of videos from the national champs.
Beth Tweddle said she didn't compete floor because she was resting a slight knee injury and she also is planning to debut a new floor routine :-)

That's all for now- I'll elaborate on this if I find any more exciting info to blog.