Rinkside Notes from Goldenskate.... Day 1 | Golden Skate

Rinkside Notes from Goldenskate.... Day 1

EWalker

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 16, 2005
China’s fifteen year-old Wenjing Sui is as perky off the ice as she is on the ice. In the elevator today, the tiny skater smiled and said hello to me as we headed to our respective rooms in the official hotel. As we got off the elevator, she looked back with her usual flair and waved to me as she disappeared down the hall.

Mike Slipchuk, Skate Canada’s High Performance Director and I discussed Jessica Dube’s intention to skate singles at the Canadian National Championships later this season. As it was explained to me, due to Dube being assigned to the Grand Prix, she was given a bye through Sectionals even though she withdrew from her international assignments. As such, Dube needs to compete only at Challenge and place high enough to earn a spot to compete in Victoria. On a related note, Slipchuk reported that he visited Dube last week to monitor her progress, and shared that she is looking great.

Priscilla Hill was working triple duty tonight at the men’s short program. In her first Skate America as a coach, Hill had three men in the competition- and they competed one right after another. Hill coaches fourth place finisher Armin Mahbanoozadeh, American Steven Carriere, and Austrian Viktor Pfeifer. Hill is known for matching her own outfits to her skaters’ costumes, and tonight she had her work cut out for her. Hill wore a necklace that had black and white pieces matching Carriere’s costume and also had fluorescent pink beads to match Pfeiffer’s outfit. She smartly complimented her outfit with a bronze scarf to match Mahbanoozadeh’s costume. She admits that the freeskate presents more of a fashion challenge, but she’s got it well under control.

Five men in tonight’s competition have competed within the US Figure Skating system- Mahbanoozadeh, Carriere, and Rippon are representing Team USA here in Portland. Austria’s Pfeifer competed at the 2007-08 Eastern Sectionals, but failed to make it to the 2008 US National Championships. Japan’s Daisuke Murakami skated for Team USA at the 2006 Junior World Championships, and placed fifteenth at the 2007 US Championships before switching over to compete for his home country.
 

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
Thanks for the explanation of how Dube makes Canadian Nationals as a singles skater, and for all the other stuff!
 
Joined
Aug 16, 2009
Yay! We have eyes in the field. Thanks for the report. It must be such fun to attend a competition.
 

EWalker

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 16, 2005
I am here for *YOU* Goldenskate... Let me know if there is anything you want to know. I file at the end of each day, so I might be able to get answers to some of your questions.
 

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
I'd be curious to know what levels Davis & White will get in their short dance today on their Golden Waltz segments. They had particularly trouble with segment 2 at NHK, and I'm curious to know whether they fixed the problem.
 

gsk8

Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Country
United-States
Don't forget to read JR's main article recaps (see main page of GS) :thumbsup:
 
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