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Figure Skating World Championships
Mar. 25th, 2009 11:58 amYou can't tell from coverage in the press or online, but the World Championships for figure skaters is this week in L.A. This is the competition that will determine how many people we get to send to the Winter Olympics next year in Vancouver.
TV coverage starts today. The coverage is a good news/bad news situation. There's a lot of it, but you have to have cable (or fast internet) to see it. And with the time difference, it's probably a "record and watch later" situation, too. There was no USA TV coverage yesterday, unless you live within shouting distance of Canada and can see their coverage. That left many die-hard skating fans in the States watching the live feed of the compulsary dances and pairs short programs online from the Turkish television. *sigh*
On the Oxygen Channel, they're showing a fair amount:
Wed Mar 25
- 4:30-6:30 p.m. EDT [men's short (might include be pairs short)]
- 6:30-8:30 p.m. EDT [men's SP, live]
Thu Mar 26
- mid-2 a.m. EDT [pairs' FS, live]
- 11 p.m.- 2 a.m. EDT [men's FS, live]
Fri Mar 27
- 4:30-6:30 p.m. EDT [ladies' short; might also be original dance?]
- 6:30-8:30 p.m. EDT [ladies' SP, live]
Sat Mar 28 mid-2 a.m. EDT [free dance, live]
The only coverage on broadcast TV is on NBC, 9-11 p.m. EDT [ladies' FS, live]
There are some online sites that say they'll be streaming live...universalsports.com looks most likely to work. Many of the foreign sources have live feeds that are blocked for US viewers. Bleh.
Here's a pretty good article on who might win.
http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/news?slug=ap-worldskating-capsules&prov=ap&type=lgns
Lots of new names since the last Olympics, so here's a chance to get up to speed on who you might see next year.
If you're a USA homer, my guess is that the only chances for US Medals are in Dance from Belbin/Agosto (who won the silver at the last Olympics), and men's with Evan Lysacek or U.S. Men's champion Jeremy Abbott. The U.S. pairs champions (McLaughlin/Brubaker) are currently in 9th, and the women (Rachel Flatt and Alissa Czisny) will probably meet the "Asian buzzsaw" of the Koreans and Japanese. But many of the predicted winners have been out injured for parts of the season, so it's hard to say what will happen here.
The new judging system (accumulated points for elements rather than the old 6.0) is bizarre, so I mostly try to enjoy the skating and stop worrying about medals. Not sure how much patience I'll have for watching it...after having been to so many live events, the fluffy partial coverage drives me bats. But I do love a perfect axel jump, a spread eagle, a pairs lift so high in the air, and those dance twizzles! Not to mention dishing about the costumes!
TV coverage starts today. The coverage is a good news/bad news situation. There's a lot of it, but you have to have cable (or fast internet) to see it. And with the time difference, it's probably a "record and watch later" situation, too. There was no USA TV coverage yesterday, unless you live within shouting distance of Canada and can see their coverage. That left many die-hard skating fans in the States watching the live feed of the compulsary dances and pairs short programs online from the Turkish television. *sigh*
On the Oxygen Channel, they're showing a fair amount:
Wed Mar 25
- 4:30-6:30 p.m. EDT [men's short (might include be pairs short)]
- 6:30-8:30 p.m. EDT [men's SP, live]
Thu Mar 26
- mid-2 a.m. EDT [pairs' FS, live]
- 11 p.m.- 2 a.m. EDT [men's FS, live]
Fri Mar 27
- 4:30-6:30 p.m. EDT [ladies' short; might also be original dance?]
- 6:30-8:30 p.m. EDT [ladies' SP, live]
Sat Mar 28 mid-2 a.m. EDT [free dance, live]
The only coverage on broadcast TV is on NBC, 9-11 p.m. EDT [ladies' FS, live]
There are some online sites that say they'll be streaming live...universalsports.com looks most likely to work. Many of the foreign sources have live feeds that are blocked for US viewers. Bleh.
Here's a pretty good article on who might win.
http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/news?slug=ap-worldskating-capsules&prov=ap&type=lgns
Lots of new names since the last Olympics, so here's a chance to get up to speed on who you might see next year.
If you're a USA homer, my guess is that the only chances for US Medals are in Dance from Belbin/Agosto (who won the silver at the last Olympics), and men's with Evan Lysacek or U.S. Men's champion Jeremy Abbott. The U.S. pairs champions (McLaughlin/Brubaker) are currently in 9th, and the women (Rachel Flatt and Alissa Czisny) will probably meet the "Asian buzzsaw" of the Koreans and Japanese. But many of the predicted winners have been out injured for parts of the season, so it's hard to say what will happen here.
The new judging system (accumulated points for elements rather than the old 6.0) is bizarre, so I mostly try to enjoy the skating and stop worrying about medals. Not sure how much patience I'll have for watching it...after having been to so many live events, the fluffy partial coverage drives me bats. But I do love a perfect axel jump, a spread eagle, a pairs lift so high in the air, and those dance twizzles! Not to mention dishing about the costumes!
