4 Continents Championships- Ladies

The surprise of Four Continents was Polina Edmunds' victory. Based on her skating all season, no one expected her to skate nearly as well as she did here.

The short program has been her biggest issue all season, and now that she finally has the combo in the program under control she has a far greater chance at success. This short program is definitely the better of her two programs. Even when she skates the freeskate cleanly it is not of the same maturity level of other women in the world.

Polina had pretty good skates here, but her chances of landing on the podium at Worlds are slim with the kind of programs she has and the way that she skates. However, this was a huge achievement for her.

For Satoko Miyahara, this event was hers to lose. After the short program she had a decent lead, but fell apart in the freeskate and was unable to hold onto her lead.

Her skating is less emotive and tends to be more technical, so when she can't hold the technical elements together, like here she doesn't have the quality in the second mark to make up for a mistake. However a freeskate like this one could not be saved, regardless of the quality of skating between elements and the performance quality.

Her jumps aren't that big, so there is less room for error, so when her jumps are off, the mistakes can be disastrous. There is a chance for her to take the third spot on the podium, but she is going to have to forget this skate happened and skate at her best for any chance at all.

Rika Hongo skated well, but I find her bad posture to be extremely distracting. She lets her shoulders ride up and loses her neck when she goes into her jumps and sometimes during footwork. These little details make it more difficult to focus on the good aspects of her skating, especially when she isn't the greatest performer either. She's a good enough skater, but I don't see her finishing on the podium at Worlds.

Gracie Gold was a bit of a disappointment. I think everyone expected her to skate better than she did, but she wasn't able to hold it together through the freeskate. Her programs are boring, and it's obvious that she thinks so too.

These programs really aren't anything special, and it's obvious she is just going through the motions, unlike with her exhibition number. Now that she has the chance to skate to any music she wants, it's time to start skating to something she actually enjoys so that she can really commit to the performance. At this point it's too late to do anything for Worlds, so I don't think these programs are enough to get her on the podium, unless others, like Ashley Wagner and Satoko Miyahara make significant mistakes.

4 Continents Championships- Men

Denis Ten is a fantastic skater on a good day, but unfortunately is notoriously inconsistent. At this year's Four Continents Championships, however, he came out in full force. He had two clean skates, receiving positive GOEs on every element except for the triple axel in the free.

If he can manage to skate like he did here at Worlds, he might just take the title this year. But that's all going to depend on the kind of day he's having.

Joshua Farris had a fantastic skate. His skating style is certainly my favourite. He has an ease to his skating, with beautiful transitions and footwork his connection to the music and the audience is extremely inviting. He is always entertaining to watch, and when he is as technically good as he was here, it only makes the programs even more entertaining to watch. In the freeskate, he had a few small mistakes. He was able to hold the jumps together, even though he tended to be back in the hips. He has fantastic positions in his spins, but they can get a little slow. His clean freeskate was only second to Denis Ten, moving him up from 5th to 2nd overall.

He is too cute. We've got to love reactions like that

Han Yan had a strong finish in third. His short program is an odd choice, the music doesn't seem like a natural choice, however, you can't say that he doesn't sell the program. The choice of skating to "If I Were a Rich Man" is surprising, but he manages to make it work. When the jumps work, he is very entertaining to watch, but when the jumps fall apart, he allows the program as a whole to fall apart.

His freeskate music makes more sense for him, "Fly Me to the Moon" works well for his style and the program is successful, again when he can manage the jumps, which he did in this case. There were some relatively small mistakes, but they did little to impact the overall program. However, the one thing he needs to work on is his spins, they have a tendency to be quite slow.

Shoma Uno is still a junior skater, but he doesn't look it. The depth of the men's field in Japan is doing wonders for their skaters. He finished in 5th, more than solid for a junior skater. He is sure of his skating and his jumps. Over time, his skating will mature, but for now he is a solid skater with great technical skills.

Jason Brown made some less than stellar choices at the Four Continents Championships. Rather than working a quad into the freeskate, where mistakes have less of an impact, he added a quad into the short, and was nowhere near a clean quad. The quad earned him only 2 points, a significant deficit of what he typically earns with the first jump in his short program. Not only did the quad receive a downgrade, the triple axel also received an underrotation call. These mistakes in the short were not small and made it impossible for him to make it onto the podium, though he is more than capable of such a result. It is clear he is not ready to add the quad into his short program (and probably the free as well) and we should hope he will not attempt it again at Worlds.

His freeskate was more successful, but not technically difficult enough to make up for the points he lost in the short. His freeskate was not perfect, but the mistakes from many others allowed him to make up a significant margin, leaning him in 6th place overall.

Nam Nguyen attended his first Four Continents Championships this year, and he took some risks that did not benefit him. Putting his quad in the short program was a significant risk and it did not pay off for him, however it was a smart choice. It is worthwhile for him to attempt the quad in the short program. He has been landing them consistently in the free, and he needed to take the risk at some point. It was better for him overall to try the quad in the short here, rather than for the first time at Worlds.

He did better overall in the freeskate, but he wasn't able to recover from the mistakes in the short. For his first year in the senior ranks, his finish in 11th place was solid, and if he can manage a slightly better skate, he will finish around 10th or 11th in the world, and will certainly be the top Canadian man.

4 Continents Championships- Pairs

Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford continue their winning streak. With only one major competition left in the season, there is a good chance that they will finish off the season undefeated. However, if they have any technical mistakes, that will not happen. Though the mistake on the side-by-side triple lutzes in the free didn't have much of an impact here, Worlds will be a different story. The competition will be too close for them to have any mistakes.

They are playing to their strengths this year, and as long as there are no technical errors, it should be enough to win them the world title.

Cheng Peng and Hao Zhang finished in second place overall, but the competition overall was not particularly strong. Just about every team had errors on at least one set of side by side jumps in the freeskate Peng and Zhang were no exception. They had two mistakes on their side-by-side jumps, first a fall and then only a single jump on the end of the combination. Like many of the other teams, the timing on their side-by-side spins was not consistently good.

These little details will become more important at Worlds than they are here. However the choreography in their programs is interesting and the music choice is very different from the other teams.

Qing Pang and Jian Tong have come back for the end of the season, and no one knew quite what to expect from them, but they did not disappoint. Though their throws were excellent, some of the side-by-side elements were not so perfect. Both sets of side-by-side jumps in the freeskate were popped, which is one of the greatest differences between them and some of the Russian teams. The style is similar, but having just come back, they are not as consistent as they will need to be to really compete at Worlds. If they skate the way they did here, they simply won't be able to make it onto the podium at Worlds.

Lubov Iliushechkina and Dylan Moscovitch are a brand new team, and doing quite well. They're working on difficult elements, and Dylan is always so comfortable in lifts. Their overall comfort together is what separates them from Kirsten Moore-Towers and Michael Marinaro.

A lot of their elements are not as clean as the other teams at the Four Continents Championships, but it is clear they both have the ability to be one of the best teams in the world. However, some of the choreography is a little too cheesy for my tastes, especially the opening pose of the freeskate.

Kirsten Moore-Towers and Michael Marinaro are doing well enough for a new team, but they haven't necessarily made the best choices for them this season.

The short program music choice doesn't necessarily suit them. They don't have the power for the music yet, and the disposition she needs for the Cell Block Tango isn't in her personality as a performer.

Chess is a better music choice, but some of the elements, though comfortable for Kirsten, don't seem to be natural for Michael. One lift in particualr requires him to push her up above his head, and he always struggles with that lift. Between that lift being too difficult and his bad posture in lifts, they don't have the ease they should. Most of the other elements are still rough around the edges, but over time they will improve.

4 Continents Championships- Ice Dance

This is going to be a long one folks, all my favourite teams from my favourite event competed this weekend and I couldn't just talk about some of them.

Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje did not do as well as we all expected in the short dance as I think most expected of them, after winning the Grand Prix Final, I don't think anyone anticipated them in third place after the short. However, in the free, they certainly did not disappoint, making up the small point deficit from the short.

Their beautiful freedance, though very traditional, is quite beautiful, and accentuates their amazing skating skills. They have a great connection to the music and each other. The choreoraphy suits them well, it's light, graceful, smooth and sweet, filling the music and catching the nuance of the melody. They have fantastic speed, even through their difficult elements, there isn't much need for long set ups for elements when they are able to create speed through their intricate transitions.  

And who doesn't love a reaction like Kaitlyn's?

Madison Chock and Evan Bates are always exciting to watch, they have some of the most interesting lifts in ice dance at the moment and despite any mistakes, Madison is always selling the performance with everything she's got. I have to say though, I am not a fan of the new costumes for the freedance. the mesh down the sides of both her dress and his shirt is unnecessary. They had a few mistakes in the freedance, but overall, their performance was strong in both programs. Some of their transitions come off a little awkward but they make up for most of the minor mistakes they make in the performance quality. They have great musicality and are very inviting to their audience.

Maia and Alex Shibutani finished better than I think many expected them to at this year's 4 Continents Championships. Perhaps this is due, in part to the fact that they were the only team training in Michigan whose flight was not delayed. While the rest had to worry about making it to the competition at all, Maia and Alex were already in Korea, giving them a chance to adjust better to the timezone and get some practice in. Following the short dance, they really stood a chance to overtake one or both of the top two teams. Their short dance is clearly their stronger program, the free just doesn't have the spark that we all know the Shibutani's are capable of.

Their freedance is unfortunately a little drab, especially when compared to the power, precision, and control in the short dance. It seems that they aren't really getting the attention and choreography they need to become the top US team, something they are certainly capable. There are lots of strange little details within the choreography that don't seem to fit. There are times when their legs are bent, and even if it is intentional, it doesn't always look good. These little details should have been smoothed out by now, but I fear they are still not Marina's top priority. It might just be time for these two to make a coaching switch, as I've said before, I want them to do as well as they possibly can, and I'm not so sure that's going to happen if they stay with Marina Zoueva.

Piper Gilles and Paul Porier maintained their fourth place from the short dance to the free, and are doing quite well for themselves this season, but the very traditional freedance may not have been the best choice for these two.

(Video not available everywhere, sorry.)

Though their Freedance certainly has merit, and there are quite a lot of really great moments, my favourite being the period move for the choreographic spin movement, a new addition this season, which, I have to say, I quite enjoy. However, for Gilles and Porier, the classic style while good enough and entertaining enough, when compared to their Hitchcock program, it falls a little short for me in terms of creativity. They do weird too well for them to not capitalize on it. A program like Hitchcock helped them stand out from the crowd in a way this program does not.

Kaitlin Hawayek and Jean-Luc Baker are a joy to watch. They are one of my favourite teams this season. They have gorgeous, deep edges and wonderful flow across the ice. They have something very few skaters can manage, the perfect connection to each other, the music, and the audience. This only amplifies their beautiful skating. I would like to see them be a little more adventurous in the freedance. While their program is beautiful and smooth, the choreography is so much like so many other programs it can be hard to stand out, and they don't really have a reputation to help them achieve that recognition, though they are quickly making their presence known in the world of ice dance.

However, it must be said that their short dance is not quite as good as the free. Like most teams this season, their paso is good, but not as good as their freedance. The Pasodoble is clearly not their best style of dance, but next year's Ravensburger Waltz should suit them better, and give them the freedom to be a little ore adventurous in the free. Their energy is fantastic to watch, they are always so enthusiastic, and watching their happy dance on the ice at the end of the freedance brought a smile to my face.

Alexandra Paul and Mitchell Islam are a team I have always been partial to. Though I enjoyed their old freedance, many did not share that opinion, and it was smart to re-work the program choreographed b Jeffrey Buttle for their new freedance. Overall it seems to be better received than their old one.

They always have such nice lines, especially when in hold, something many other teams struggle with. The costuming is beautiful and different from the other teams. They have great flow and deep edges, and the hold position you'd expect from the son of an ice dance coach. They have great musicality, and considering this is only the second time they've skated this program in this way it looks extremely polished, though as you'd expect, there's some kinks to work out. Everything seemed to be going so well for them, and then he tripped. I should've known it was too good to be true, but at the very least, his trip over his toepicks (it happens to everyone, but did it have to be in the middle of Four Continents?) didn't happen during an element, so the cost was pretty minimal. That doesn't mean we're all not hoping Mitch gets his toepicks under control before Worlds.