Figure skatingTaking stock of trends and surprises

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Three events are down with three more to go in the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating series and it's time to take stock of the trends and surprises that have emerged.

The very first thing is the shift in competition, where outstanding junior talent no longer has to "wait its turn" to be seen as competitive. It is very encouraging to see that, in all disciplines, what happens "on the day" is what determines the result.

One of the other interesting notes is the number of quad jumps being performed successfully by the men is up from just a year ago. There was an overhaul of the rules that saw the increase in valuation for successful quads, as well as the possibility of receiving 70 per cent of the value of a jump that is under-rotated up to a half turn. This finally makes the risk of a quad commensurate with the credit a skater can receive. Taking advantage of the new rules was Kevin Reynolds from Canada, who is the first man to have completed two quad jumps in a short program, which he did at Skate Canada International.

Have there been surprises? CBC skating analyst Tracy Wilson said that, for her, there have been a couple: "First of all, I am happily surprised by the quality of Patrick Chan's quad toe jump. It's really good."

As a commentator, it's part of the job to watch the practices, in addition to doing the research about the skaters and the events. It is an energizing moment when the skating reaches out to you. Kurt Browning shared: "Watching the 'baby Russians' in the kiss and cry when they won the pairs event, I was taken by the joy written all over their faces.  It was infectious. I kind of fell for them, which is what we do in skating - we fall for skaters." He was, of course, talking about Lubov Iliushechkina and Nodari Maisuradze, the 2009 junior world champions who took the gold in Kingston, Ont.

For me, the glimpse into the future provided by Wenjing Sui and Cong Han, the 2010 junior world champions from China, and their seemingly effortless rotation in their throw quad Salchow and other big-ticket items on their way to a silver medal at the Cup of China, makes me wonder again just "how far up is up?"

'Canada gets two thumbs up'

At the outset, not having Olympic and world ice dance champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir of Canada able to compete at Skate Canada was a disappointment. However, it did provide the opportunity for others to shine. Wilson said, "Canada gets two thumbs up. The competitiveness and depth of the Canadian ice dancers is great to see."

At this point, Canada and the United States both have three teams in the Top 10 looking to qualify for the Grand Prix final taking place in Beijing in December. There are some who believe that the short dance is an inadequate replacement for the compulsory and original dance segments. There are others, like me, who feel that there will likely be some tweaking to the judging and scoring along the way, but the short dance is a reasonable way to spotlight the compulsory dance tradition while injecting a modern way of adding creativity with the use of the required elements and choreography. 

Looking at the lists of entries at the beginning of the season, one wonders whether the youngsters are going to rise to the challenge or fall by the wayside. In almost all cases, the younger skaters who have set the junior world on fire are the ones who are most comfortable with the way skating is judged today and are the ones who will carry the sport forward.

The shift had already started with the arrival of Virtue and Moir, and Olympic and world silver medallists Meryl Davis and Charlie White of the U.S. into the Top 10 in the ice dance rankings in their first trip to worlds in 2007. I predict that world title holder, names like Brian Joubert, Qing Pang and Jian Tong, and Miki Ando will be the ones making room for Yuzuru Hanyu, Sui and Han and Kanako Murakami - all former junior world champions - once we get closer to the Sochi Olympics in 2014.

It seems like it's anybody's game in skating right now. With so many new names and faces to get to know and the seemingly endless supply of young talent, this is turning into one of the most interesting seasons in a very long time.

(Photo of Kevin Reynolds by Geoff Robins/Getty Images)

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