Thursday, February 10, 2011

Odds and Ends on the Way to Taipei

Before I give you some early needs-to-know stuff regarding 4 Continents, here are a few odds and ends from U.S. Nationals…

+ Were you wondering if Jeremy Abbott (who turns 26 this June) was pondering retirement after his 4th place finish in Greensboro? Oh, perish the thought.
This article in the Detroit Free Press confirms that this year’s turnout only fuels Abbott’s intent to stick around at least one more season.

+ Were you wondering if your eyes were playing tricks on you during the Super Bowl—when, smack dab in the middle of a 2-minute Chrysler commercial paying homage to the “motor city” Detroit, Alissa Czisny was briefly shown spinning on an outdoor arena? Indeed that was our 2-time National Champ (who trains under Yuka Sato and Jason Dungjen near Detroit). What a lovely surprise—and since the ad carried an undercurrent of all things renaissance, what splendid (if perhaps inadvertent) timing. Didn’t see it? Watch it here. (An easy Clip of the Day.)

+ And were you wondering what John Coughlin (one half of the new U.S. pairs champs) was Tweeting about this week? No? I found this pretty interesting (not to mention kind of hilarious); maybe you will too. Here is a series of Tweets from this past Monday:

I think it's funny when singles skaters take up pairs on a whim, as if anyone with a triple toe can be successful...

Pair skating isn't a "fall back position", people.

You'd be amazed at how many people, male skaters specifically, utter the words "maybe I'll just do pairs", after a rough national outing.

But what am I saying, all of us that have been here for the right reasons welcome all challengers ;)

And AXE body spray isn't an alternative to showering! Sort it out, people! Okay, done ranting... For now

Anyway… Coughlin and his partner, Caitlin Yankowsas, will be in attendance at 4CCs soon along with the rest of the podium finishers (save for Richard Dornbush and Ross Miner; Abbott and Adam Rippon will be representing instead, as mentioned last week). Here’s a (very) quick primer for that event…

WHEN: February 17-19

WHERE: Taipei City, Taiwan

WHO:
Here is the entry list at the 4CC event website.

WHY: The ISU claims this is a parellel event to the European Championships (in that it gives many skaters one more chance to work the kinks out between their country’s championships and Worlds?), but some of us still aren’t really sure about that.

WHERE TO SEE IT: Not really sure about that either (yet), other than “as soon as people with coverage in the Far East post clips to You Tube”.


More to come as we get closer to it!

4 comments:

Sharon said...

I don't "follow" John C but I really hope his tweets weren't any disrespect for Marley/Brubaker. I was infinitely more intrigued by M/B than I was Y/C...although I had respect for what Y/C put out there at nationals. I was there live at Nationals and M/B looked fantastic out there for only 5 mon training. Don't want to tempt the skategods but I see tremendous potential for M/B.

Sharon said...

After reading more (and reading a thread on FSU), I'm wondering if he was referring to Carriere? Or simply just musing in general.

Kelli Lawrence said...

I believe Carriere was out this year with an injury, so if he was referring to someone specific I don't think it was him.

The mind boggles... :-)

Sharon said...

Yeah, but Carriere was on icepartnersearch...briefly. Guess he was thinking about pairs. Apparently, he's no longer listed there.