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NOTEBOOK PASSING IT ON


Omaha abounded with competitors follow- ing in their famous parents’ tracings. Maxim Naumov, the 12-year-old son of


Russia’s 1994 World pairs champions Evge- nia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, won the juvenile boys title. Daniel Petrenko, son of 1986 World Junior champion Vladimir Petrenko and nephew of 1992 Olympic champion Viktor Pe- trenko, placed 10th in novice men. Both skaters train in Simsbury, Conn. Anthony Ponomarenko may have the big- gest boots to fill. His parents, Marina Klimova and Sergei Ponomarenko, who competed for the Soviet Union, won three Olympic ice dance medals: a bronze in 1984, silver in 1988 and gold in 1992. Ponomarenko and his partner, Sarah Feng, were eighth in novice ice dance. Feng also placed eighth in novice ladies. Klimova, who coaches the team in San


Jose, Calif., expressed mixed feelings about guiding her son’s career. “I’m just a mom, and I think students


respect a coach more,” she said. “Tey listen bet- ter, and focus more, when it’s the coach talking. When parents talk, they take it easy, they listen halfway. It’s much harder to coach as a parent. You need to stay tough and demanding, but it’s hard, because it’s your own child. You don’t want to be


Maxim Naumov


rough and evil.” If anything, Dad is an even softer touch. “I try not to press [Anthony] too much, because he just turned 12 a few weeks ago,” Ponomarenko said. “If I press too much, he won’t like skating as much as he does now. So our goal is just to calm down, let him become more involved in the skating process and hope- fully he will find he can’t live without it. If we start to yell at him and just have him do hard elements, he probably won’t like it and will quit someday, which we don’t want.” Klimova hopes to strike the right balance


between loving mom and stringent taskmaster. “We will figure it out, because I explained


to him, ‘At home I am your loving mom, but at the rink I am your coach. So I can be tough, a little bit strict and demand discipline, but I still love you,’” she said. She may need to get a bit tougher, because


Anthony isn’t buying it. “Sometimes she is really strict at the rink, but she is still a really cool mom,” he said. Omaha was far different for Igor Shpil- band, whose daughter Katia placed 12th in junior ladies. Te renowned ice dance coach does not train his daughter; she moved from her home in Michigan a year ago to work under Rafael Arutyunyan in Lake Arrowhead, Calif. “Katia is on her own path; I never pushed her into skating,” Shpilband said. “When she was little I would bring her to the rink and show her how to skate, but she really started to express interest when she turned 10, which is quite late, and started to take lessons. I think Rafael is the best coach for her and she has been progress- ing tremendously and growing up as a person throughout this year.” It’s clear, though, that his daughter’s pursuit


of her dream is bittersweet for him. “I barely see her; I saw her maybe four


times this past year,” he said. “Here in Omaha I’m just enjoying my time with her. Katia mak- ing nationals for the first time was really a great experience. I want her to enjoy it and take the best of it.”


— Lynn Rutherford


WHAT’S NEXT? These skaters will represent Team USA at the ISU World Championships (March 11–17, Lon- don, Ontario, Canada) and the ISU World Junior Championships (Feb. 25–March 3, Milan, Italy):


2013 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS LADIES Gracie Gold Ashley Wagner Alternate: Agnes Zawadzki Alternate : Christina Gao Alternate : Mirai Nagasu MEN Max Aaron Ross Miner Alternate: Jeremy Abbott Alternate: Adam Rippon Alternate: Joshua Farris


PAIRS Marissa Castelli/Simon Shnapir Alexa Scimeca/Chris Knierim Alternate: Felicia Zhang/Nathan Bartholomay Alternate: Haven Denney/Brandon Frazier ICE DANCING Madison Chock/Evan Bates Meryl Davis/Charlie White Maia Shibutani/Alex Shibutani Alternate: Madison Hubbell/Zach Donohue Alternate: Lynn Kriengkrairut/Logan Giulietti-Schmitt


2013 WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS LADIES Samantha Cesario Courtney Hicks Yasmin Siraj Alternate: Angela Wang Alternate: Hannah Miller


Alternate: Leah Keiser MEN


Jason Brown Joshua Farris Shotaro Omori Alternate: Harrison Choate Alternate: Jay Yostanto PAIRS


Jessica Noelle Calalang/Zack Sidhu Haven Denney/Brandon Frazier Britney Simpson/Matthew Blackmer Alternate: Madeline Aaron/Max Settlage Alternate: Jessica Pfund/AJ Reiss ICE DANCING Alexandra Aldridge/Daniel Eaton Kaitlin Hawayek/Jean-Luc Baker Lorraine McNamara/Quinn Carpenter Alternate: Holly Moore/Daniel Klaber Alternate: Elliana Pogrebinsky/Ross Gudis


SKATING 29


METHOD ACTING ON SKATES Madison Hubbell likes to stay in character,


even during practices. She and partner Zachary Donohue, who placed fourth in Omaha, per- formed a fiery flamenco as their free skate, and the tall, blonde ice dancer dashed around the hotel in full regalia: dark eyeliner, ruffled skirt, hair combs and fan, and big drop earrings. “You can’t do flamenco halfway,” she said.


“If we wear our practice clothes, it doesn’t feel right. I like dressing the part, trying to feel as Spanish as I can.” Flamenco dancers are generally a bit older


than competitive figure skaters, and Hubbell’s dark-haired partner tried to add a few years, growing a mustache and goatee. “I’m doing my best, but a 22-year-old guy


isn’t going to be able to grow this in, in a few weeks,” Donohue said.


— Lynn Rutherford Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue


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