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http://www.absoluteskating.com/index.ph ... inreynolds
January 20, 2011 By Titanilla Bőd

Kevin Reynolds: "The quads are my most consistent jumps"

He landed two quads in the short program at the Skate Canada and has written his name into the chronicles of figure skating. Missing his home town Olympics was a big disappointment for him, but he already sets his eyes at Sochi Games. This is Kevin Reynolds, the rising star of Canadian men’s skating.

You made history at Skate Canada with two quad jumps in the short program. How do you feel about it?
- It was such a surprise, because it was the first time I really tried it in major competition and it clicked right away. It was really exciting to do it in front of the home crowd and the audience’s reaction was great. It was amazing.

What do you think about your performance in your second Grand Prix event, the TEB Paris?
- It started off pretty well for me. I did a great short program with a quad-triple and a triple axel, but unfortunately the marks put me quite of out of content for a medal, so it was hard to come back in the long. But there was also some positive aspect, as I got credit for my quad salchow in the long, as well as for the triple axel, triple toe. So I’m happy with that.

Why is the quad so special for you?
- I used to admire guys at Salt Lake Olympics, Plushenko, Yagudin and Goebel. I wanted to achieve quads later, and I’m happy that I did. I would like to get a little bit more consistence, so that I can land them all the time. The quad is my most favourite jump.

How is the quad different from a triple?
- A triple is a lot easier in a sense that it doesn’t take a lot of energy. A quad takes a lot of energy and concentration, so I can be very tired physically and mentally, that’s why it’s so hard to do it.

Do you spend much longer time in the air during a quad than during a triple?
- I think the air time is pretty much the same, it’s about how fast your rotate, how much speed you can generate at the take off where there are differences when you do a quad or a triple.

Which is your favourite quad?
- I learnt the salchow first, when I was fifteen, so that’s my favourite jump.

Do you plan to add some other quads to your repertoire?
- I was practicing quad loops, and I’m pretty excited about that. I will see the progress and maybe I will include it in my programs later in the season. I’d like to be the first man to land a quad loop in a competition.

You were probably happy when you learnt that the new rules allow to put two quads in the short program – with the previous rules it wasn’t possible.
- Yes, it’s a great opportunity for me, because my quads are my most consistent jumps, better than my axel. So I wanted to take the opportunity, but as it showed in Paris, they are risky and if you don’t land them perfectly, you loose lot of points.

Last season there was a big discussion if it is important for a champion to have a quad, if it’s possible to become an Olympic champion without a quad jump. Whatdo you think about it?
- The new system put a lot more focus on the skating, spins and footwork, not only the jumps. As we’ve seen in the recent years compared to 1998 and 2002, the jump has gone down a little bit for the top skaters. But I think eventually jumpers are coming to tope again so I think we will see more quads in the future.

What about the other elements, do you like the spins and steps?
- I liked to spin when I was younger, but some of the new rules, this year specially, are restricting the spins a lot, we have to do a lot of awkward features in order to get points, so it isn’t as free and you can’t really spin as fast as you’d like to. I hope that in the future they will give a lot more freedom for the skaters in the spins, so they can demonstrate their best spins.

This year you skate to a classical music in your free program. It’s kind of a new direction for you, isn’t it?
- Last year’s free was a Led Zeppelin medley, so it’s quite a drastic change this year to a classical style, but I like it so far. I like the freedom that the music has and how can I express it, especially at the footwork sequence and in the step choreography in general. It’s a challenge always to do the top technical elements, with the performance as well. I hope that by the end of the season I can combine them both so I can give a good long program.

Was it your idea to try the classical music or someone else has come up with it?
- As always, we chose together, the coach, the choreographer and me. We decided on the classical piece, because we wanted to try something different at the beginning of the Olympic cycle.

Last year you didn’t make it to the Olympic team. Has the disappointment gone now or does it still hurt?
- I was very-very disappointed at that time, home town Olympics – this comes once in a lifetime and I won’t have this opportunity again, to be so close to it. But it motivated me to be better, that time I landed my first quad loop and I think I was motivated by the fact I didn’t reach those Games. So now I’m looking ahead to Sochi in 2014 and possibly the 2018 Games as well.

Do you dream about an Olympic medal?
- It’s far off in the future, anything can happen in three and a half year, but one day I’d like to be World and Olympic medallist. That would be my goal, to represent Canada with pride.

What do you think you need to be a big champion?
- My weakness is now my presentation, because I’ve been classified as a strong jumper, so I think I will just continue to improve my presentation and my skating skills, and I hope one day I can compete with the top skaters.

Are you nervous before the competitions?
- As a jumper in a new system – it can be very nerve-wracking, because you know that there are so many points in risk with those quad jumps and trying to perform afterwards is very difficult. So I get nervous before competitions, but I think it’s been a lot better in the recent years, you could see more consistent performances from me.

[clairdelalune]

It seems like Canadian Nationals are a true QUADFEST!!!!!
I wish Patrick and Kevin good luck with their quads! I pray they stay injure free!!!!

[clairdelalune]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/m ... le1879700/

[lala630312]

Go Kevin!!

[KingdomOfJoy]

Что-то у Кевина не сложилось в этот раз =(

Короткая программа Патрика:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9gC846rIX0

Почему канадские комментаторы (CBC) не молчат во время проката - смотреть невозможно

[cekoni]

Results of 2011 Canadian Figure Skating Championships and videos here (1 day):
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=13&p=46297#p46290
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=13&p=46297#p46297

Patrick Chan leads after Short Program
http://www.goldenskate.com/articles/201 ... r_ms.shtml

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http://www.thestar.com/sports/article/9 ... ingly-thin
Published On Tue Jan 25 2011 By Rosie DiManno Columnist

Beyond Chan, Canada’s skating ranks worryingly thin

VICTORIA—After Patrick Chan, what else? Or rather, who else?

Somewhat lost amidst the hoopla over the 20-year-old’s exceptional performance in seizing his fourth national title this past weekend — with scores almost absurdly beyond world-best records — was the steep drop-off in male figure skating talent at the senior level.

Kevin Reynolds, touted as Chan’s domestic challenger, a quad-monster rival who would push his compatriot to ever more remarkable heights, came completely undone. Once his four-rotational freakiness is removed from the equation — as occurred in Sunday’s final, when none of three Q-attempts was executed cleanly — there’s nothing of elite calibre left in the Reynolds repertoire. The Coquitlam native stumbled right off the world team, even falling on relatively simple footwork leading into a camel jump. That’s just not acceptable at this atmosphere and he knew it.

“I’m incredibly disappointed. Coming in, I wanted to be in second place here. Now I’m in fourth and I don’t know what my future in skating will be after this.”

His immediate future is assignment to Four Continents next month, the international sop extended to skaters of lesser acclaim.

It’s not what had been expected from the 130-pound bean-pole, who’s coached by the highly respected Joanne McLeod. He was 11th at 2010 Worlds. And while we won’t ask what the heck he’d done to his hair on Sunday — the sudden appearance of a leonine pouf — we do wonder how Reynolds could have reached this stage of his career and have absolutely no idea what to do with his arms and his feet.

All limbs count in figure skating — and faces, too. Artistic impression is about interpretation of the music, wedded to elements and transitional details: How a skater inhabits the entirety of a program. Reynolds looked like he was semaphoring to a 747. It may be unfair to compare anyone to Chan, but the latter brings a multidimensional package, even when he didn’t have the quad — a jump Reynolds has been tossing off with ease since he was 15. Not, however, when under pressure at nationals.

“It was tough after the short program to regain my composure,” Reynolds admitted, of his disastrous fifth-place interim result. “I knew I had a long way to climb just to get back on the podium. The nerves showed at the beginning. It would have been an okay performance, I think, if it wasn’t for that last choreographed sequence. It took the energy out of the program and I lost points as well.”

Reynolds’ presumed worlds slot was grabbed instead by Shawn Sawyer, a long-in-the-tooth-ish 25-year-old who actually retired from the sport a year ago and resumed his competitive career this past July, despite discouragement from Skate Canada.

“When I said I was coming back, it was frowned upon,” Sawyer revealed, after staking claim to silver. “They thought I made a good decision to go. A lot of people did.”

Apart from providing an intriguing glimpse into the machinations of the Skate Canada politburo — an organization with a long history of big-footing athletes and promoting favourites over those who’ve earned their ranking on the ice — Sawyer’s success represents a double-edged sword: He may have had the skate of his life, but he’s not an athlete to build on and his Tokyo inclusion, while a nice personal story, is pretty much a waste in a year when Canada has qualified three spots for men at worlds.

Sawyer is a throw-back skater. His Alice in Wonderland routine went over huge with the Memorial Centre audience. That’s because it is loud, even crude — and donning a giant Mad Hatter lid afterwards didn’t help — a show number rather than the stuff of serious competition. He inadvertently admitted this.

“I think I have to thank Kurt Browning, Jeffrey Buttle, Brian Orser, because I do a lot of shows with them,” said Sawyer. “They really brought out that inner performer in me and I was able to put that on the competitive ice. I think this program is perfect to showcase that.”

Bully for Sawyer. But he won’t be part of the Canadian equation at the 2014 Olympics. And now, frankly, we’re wondering about Reynolds too. Newfoundland’s Joey Russell, third-place finisher here, is also Tokyo-bound but he’s a lower tier skater with two double Axels in his long program and downgraded triples. “I kept fighting through the whole program, just clinging on to a bronze medal.”

Yeah, yeah, that jumping savant Nam Nguyen is out there, Mini-Me Showman. But he’s 12 years old and won’t even be age-eligible for Sochi, assuming the kid doesn’t flame out by then.

So, the question bears repeating: Other than Chan, whom?

[cekoni]

http://www.gzt.ru/topnews/sport/-evgeni ... 45816.html
31.01.2011, Авторы: Андрей Сенцов

Евгению Плющенко выбьют место в сборной России
Лучший фигурист современности возобновит карьеру с нового сезона
........

Незаменимые есть

Несмотря на свои уже полные 28 лет, Плющенко в случае возвращения будет безоговорочным первым номером сборной России. Прошедший в Берне чемпионат Европы показал, что заменить его в национальной команде никто не может. Да, неплохо откатался Артур Гачинский, в 17 лет занявший пятое место, но он явно «сырой» и не имеет международного авторитета. Константин Меньшов, в Берне накатавший лишь на седьмой результат, лишь на год моложе Плющенко, и свой шанс закрепиться в сборной упустил.

Валентин Писеев заявил, что в марте на чемпионат мира поедет Гачинский. На вопрос корреспондента GZT.Ru о том, что Артуру делать там с нынешними программами и не лучше ли решением тренерского совета отправить туда Меньшова, который в компании мужчин смотрится органично, Писеев ответил: «Вы знаете, сколько Меньшову лет? Ну а раз знаете, что тогда спрашиваете? И если мы пошлем Константина, что нам говорить Гачинскому и его тренеру?»
...........

Действительно, на сегодняшний день заменить Плющенко в сборной некем. До того уровня катания, который Евгений показал в Ванкувере (а он был далеко не идеальным), Меньшову и Гачинскому очень далеко. Сергей Воронов свои шансы в сборной уже упустил, а больше и назвать-то некого. К тому же возвращение Плющенко вряд ли будет на руку Гачинскому, ведь понятно, кому мэтр Алексей Мишин будет уделять больше внимания.
......
-----------------------------------------

Parts about Plushy here: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=6&p=47235#p47235

[cekoni]

http://www.denverpost.com/olympics/ci_17245971
By John Henderson, The Denver Post, 01/31/2011

Figure skater Johnny Weir, 26, will consider a comeback

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Johnny Weir, a three-time U.S. figure skating champion who took some time off after the Olympics, said Sunday he is contemplating a comeback.

Weir was in town to pick up Skating magazine's Readers Choice Award, a remarkable accomplishment considering he didn't win an Olympic medal.

But Weir's flamboyance has scored points with the public and he's still busy. He has a book titled "Welcome to My World," a TV series and a line of clothes. He's also a little bored watching skating on TV.

"This summer I'm going to get myself physically ready, mentally ready, and if I'm able to do it I'll do it," said Weir, wearing a black bolero jacket.

At age 26, he doesn't think he's too old.

"If you think about it, I didn't start skating until I was 12," he said. "Ryan Bradley started when he was 2, and he's a year older than me. My body in that sense has more time left in it than most skaters."

Weir said 2014 Sochi is there for the taking.

"I think a lot of the Grand Prix was pretty ridiculous with Patrick Chan winning so much and falling all over the place," he said.

"I don't think it's wide open. Everyone is so gifted and so talented, but there's so many things people are trying to pack into these programs and so many things they're trying to do, it takes away from what we love about the sport."

Weir was asked if he misses having an Olympic medal. He placed sixth at Turin and fifth at Vancouver.

"It's definitely something that's left off my resume," he said. "World champion is left off my resume. But those are things I can't control. You have to learn as a young skater, but I learned that very clearly in Vancouver. Third place fell. Other skaters who beat me fell, and I barely beat Nobunari Oda — and he stopped to retie his skate."

[cekoni]

MEN'S results & videos from 2011 U.S. Figure Skating Championships:

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=13&start=450#p46852
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=13&start=460#p47150
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=13&p=47247#p47247