Breathtaking Olympic performances highlighted figure skating season

Breathtaking Olympic performances highlighted figure skating season

Some random observations on the competitive figure skating season that ended last week at the World Championships in Milan:

1.  The enduring memory will be of the overall excellence at the 2018 Olympics – the best skating in all four disciplines at the 11 Winter Games I have covered.

The full flowering of the quad revolution led to boggling feats in the men’s event, where Japan’s peerless Yuzuru Hanyu won a second straight Olympic title with a balance between athleticism and art unmatched by any man during the 14-seasons the IJS has been used at global championships.

Russians Alina Zagitova and Evgenia Medvedeva were flawlessly stunning in taking gold and silver, respectively, in the women’s event, and Canada’s Kaetlyn Osmond won bronze with her huge jumps, expressiveness and sense of choreographic purpose erasing one relatively minor mistake.

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Worlds three-peat for U.S. men skaters? It doesn't figure

Worlds three-peat for U.S. men skaters?  It doesn't figure

After two busy weeks on the figure skating scene, including the U.S., Canadian and European Championships and the news of a season-ending injury for U.S. phenom Nathan Chen, let’s catch our breath for a look of what it all means to U.S. singles skaters as they look toward the 2016 World Championships.

Today, a look at the men’s situation.  Tomorrow, the women.

*The loss of Chen to a hip avulsion fracture that required surgery will have minimal impact on the United States’ slim-to-no chance of keeping its three men’s spots for the 2017 World Figure Skating Championships.

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