2012 World Championships

ISU World Figure Skating Championships official twitter account has just opened around 2 hours ago! @ISUWorlds

Nice 2012 Worlds are now on twitter and the “official” #hashtag for the event will be #Nice12

An article on Pairs’ competitiveness ahead of 2012 WC

http://web.icenetwork.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120319&content_id=27410960&vkey=ice_news

At the 2012 World Figure Skating Championships, the veterans will be joined by three-time world junior champions Wenjing Sui and Cong Han, competing at their first senior worlds. Sui is half their age; Cong is some 13 years younger.

“The new pair has started to train some very difficult moves (including quad twist and throw quad Salchow) at a very young age,” Pang said. “They have great potential, and their coach (Bo Luan) used to pair with our coach when they were competing.”

In Nice, the Chinese teams will seek to qualify three pairs for next season’s worlds. At last year’s worlds in Moscow, two other Chinese pairs placed 13th and 14th, so despite Pang and Tong’s bronze medal, China is only eligible to send two pairs this season.

Still, the placement doesn’t seem uppermost in the skaters’ thoughts.

“We want to skate two very beautiful programs for the audience,” Pang said.

Next season, Pang and Tong plan to return to full-time competition, with hopes for another Olympic medal.

“We definitely hope to take part in the Sochi Olympics,” Tong said.

So when is the wedding?

“I proposed to Qing Pang when we were performing in China [in Shanghai in June 2011],” he said. “There were flowers, piano played by Lang Lang, 20,000 people in the Chinese audience and nationwide live TV coverage. I bared my heart to Qing Pang in front of everyone, and I was very emotional and nervous.

“However, we really do not have wedding plans for the time being, as we still need to compete.”

Germans pronounce themselves ’99 percent’ fit

Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy and their coach, Ingo Steuer, are hunkered down in their training rink in Chemnitz, refusing interviews as they prepare to defend their world pairs title in Nice.

The Germans, who won world titles in 2008 and 2009 as well as last season, withdrew from the 2012 European Figure Skating Championships in January after Savchenko tore a muscle in her upper left thigh while attempting a throw triple Axel in practice. Despite the injury, the pair performed in eight Swiss Art on Ice shows in Zurich and Lausanne the first week of February, avoiding spins, triple jumps and triple throws.

Upon her return to Chemnitz, Savchenko was treated by Dr. Manfred Kupfer, a well-known orthopedist and specialist in sports injuries.

It now appears the pair is back on track.

“We have reached 99 percent of our shape now, and next week we will be 100 percent fit,” Szolkowy said after a practice last week, during which fans reported seeing them try throw triple Axels. “We are going to Nice in an optimistic mood. We have no more problems with Aliona’s injury.”

In Nice, the Germans will be challenged by world silver medalists Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov of Russia, who placed a razor-close second to Savchenko and Szolkowy at the Grand Prix Final in December and won their first European title in the Germans’ absence.

“After winning worlds three times, a fourth time would be very nice, but is not the most important thing to us,” Szolkowy said in Sheffield. “Everything is in preparation for our main goal, which remains an Olympic gold medal in 2014.”

Jeremy Abbott’s teleconference in which he says he’s “on the same level” as Chan

http://www.icenetwork.com/events/detail.jsp?id=68283

(scroll down and see the bottom right!)

Want to share these articles here.. They are actually the preview from Challenge Cup 2012 which just finished only last week. Yes, condition and results can easily change in short span of time too, but somehow I find it useful to tell me the overall conditions of the skaters (Men and Ladies) who are expecting to compete at this upcoming Worlds.

Opining on Challenge Cup: Czisny’s woes + Kostner’s status

http://www.examiner.com/figure-skating-in-national/opining-on-challenge-cup-czisny-s-woes-kostner-s-status

Opining on Challenge Cup: Good news/bad news for Joubert, Abbott, Amodio

http://www.examiner.com/figure-skating-in-national/opining-on-challenge-cup-good-news-bad-news-for-joubert-abbott-amodio?cid=PROD-redesign-right-next