ONTINENTS CHAMPIONSHIPS FOUR CONTINENTS CHAMPIONSHIPS FOUR CONTINENTS CHAMPIO
Jackie Wong’s top 5 takeaways from Four Continents Championships
T e Four Continents Championships in Gangneung, South Korea, provided as much of a glimpse into the competition at Worlds as any competition we’ve had this season. And it was also a fi rst look at the Olympic fi gure skating venue, which provided extra incentive for skaters to impress. And impress they certainly did. Here are my top fi ve moments, in no particular order.
1
STUNNING COMEBACKS IN PAIRS Both Wenjing Sui/Cong Han and Alexa Scimeca Knierim/Chris Knierim made their fi rst competitive appearances of the season, coming back from surgeries that kept them out of the entire season so far. And both pairs delivered tearjerker free skates to make huge statements just six weeks ahead of Worlds. Sui/Han’s win sets them up as the favorites going into Helsinki, and Knierim/Knierim’s sixth-place fi nish was the highest of the three American pairs, validating their selection for the World team.
2
GREAT MEN STUN WITH GREAT SKATING It’s not just the jumps, folks; it’s the full package. And that’s precisely
what we saw from the medalists in the men’s event. Nathan Chen, Yuzuru Hanyu and Shoma Uno all showcased incredible technical diffi culty and all- around skating. For his part, Hanyu demonstrated that he can still take it up another notch for Worlds. And for Chen, well, he grabbed the biggest title of his career so far — the sky’s the limit now.
3
NAGASU MAKES A REDEMPTION-FILLED STATEMENT It was a striking career-best free skate for Mirai Nagasu, who missed
out on a Worlds berth by all of three points at the U.S. Championships. But as she’s done two other times, she turned a missed Worlds berth into a Four Continents medal (though last year, Nagasu ended up going to Worlds as the fi rst alternate). It’s now all about self-belief that she can put together a stellar Olympic season.
4 5
VIRTUE/MOIR GETTING CLOSE TO INVINCIBLE Even not at their best, Tessa Virtue/Scott Moir still showed that they
were the class of the fi eld, and that’s no small feat considering the crazy depth in ice dance that they stepped back into in their return. T eir Prince-tribute short dance is still one of the highlight programs of this whole season. T ird World title, here they come.
SEEING THE OLYMPIC VENUE It’s not just the skaters who were in awe. Skating observers all over the
world recognized the signifi cance of Four Continents as the Olympic test event, because we are now less than a year away from PyeongChang. T ese last 12 months going into the 2018 Winter Olympics will be nothing short of amazing.
Jackie Wong is a fi gure skating analyst at Rocker Skating and a frequent guest host of icenetwork’s podcast Ice Talk. He has been involved in fi gure skating for more than 20 years as a skater, coach, choreographer and judge. You can fi nd him at
rockerskating.com and on Twitter and Instagram for comprehensive coverage of fi gure skating events all season long.
CHAMPIONSHIPS TV SCHEDULE
SATURDAY, APRIL 1
Men’s Free & Free Dance ...........12:30 - 4:30 P.M. on NBCSN Ladies Free ............................................. 8 - 10 P.M. on NBC
SUNDAY, APRIL 1 Exhibition ......................................... 2 - 3:30 P.M. on NBCSN SUNDAY, APRIL 9 World Championships Recap........... 3- 6 P.M. on NBC
For full broadcast schedule, please visit
USFigureSkatingFanZone.com.
SKATING 13
All times are Eastern Time. Dates and times are subject to change.
ISU WORLD FIGURE SKATING
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