to move up and down
DON’T GET IT TWISTED: Zhang Kexin of China performs in the women’s short program at the World Team Trophy figure skating competition. (Photo: KAZUHIRO NOGI/AFP/Getty Images)
(Source: nationalpost.com)
OUT OF THE BLUE: Team Russia 2 performs during the free skating competition at the World Synchronized Skating Championships in Boston. (Photo: Jared Wickerham/Getty Images)
Kim Yu-na returned to the ice, but everyone was buzzing about Canada’s Kaetlyn Osmond on Thursday, who is from Newfoundland.
Osmond landed a triple-triple combination, a triple flip and a double Axel, and never let up on the accelerator, and was rewarded with the eighth-best score recorded by a female skater this season, 64.73, the fifth personal best in as many skates by Canadians this week. (Photo: Geoff Robbins/AFP/Getty Images)
(Source: sports.nationalpost.com)
Kim Yu-na’s performances in Vancouver were so majestic it seemed unlikely anyone could ever come that close to perfection again.
“The Queen” sure wants to try.
The Olympic gold medallist returns to major competition for the first time in two years at this week’s World Figure Skating Championships, and she looked so sharp in practices Monday and Tuesday it was as if she had never been away.
“After I won the Olympics, like any other gold medallist out there, I did feel some emptiness in my heart,” Kim, speaking through a translator, said Tuesday night. “I did think about coming back for a long time. What motivated me was that skating is something I’m best at. And it’s something that I love the most, so I want to give it one more try.” (Photo: Toru Yamanaka/AFP/Getty Images)
(Source: sports.nationalpost.com)
Our obsession with figure skating continues at the U.S. championships: Agnes Zawadzki competes in the Ladies Short Program during the U.S. Figure Skating Championships at CenturyLink Center in Omaha, Nebraska. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)
Upside down: Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy of Russia perform during their pairs short program during European Figure Skating Championship in Zagreb, on January 23, 2013. They placed second. (Photo: HRVOJE POLAN/AFP/Getty Images)
This one is for all the marbles: Canada’s Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir sit in second place heading into Saturday at the Grand Prix figure skating final in Russia after their performance on Friday.
Other photos: Japan’s Akiko Suzuki performs during her women’s short program, but at right, Japan’s Mao Asada leads. (Photo: ALEXANDER NEMENOV/AFP/Getty Images and YURI KADOBNOV/AFP/Getty Images)
FLASHY: Elena Ilinykh (R) and Nikita Katsalapov (L) of Russia perform during their short ice dance event in the NHK Trophy, the last leg of the six-stage ISU figure skating Grand Prix series. (Photo: AFP PHOTO/Toru YAMANAKA)
BOTTOM: Mao Asada of Japan performs during women’s short program at the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)
(Source: nationalpost.com)
In September, six members of the Canadian synchronized swimming team that finished fourth at the London Olympics announced their retirement. One of them, Tracy Little, a two-time Olympian, moved almost immediately into a new career: Pole dancing.
The 26-year-old from Pointe-Claire, Que., ended her two decades in the pool to become marketing and communications manager for Milan Pole Dance, based in Montreal. The company explains itself on its website: “Just some years ago, sexy pole dancing was associated with strippers. Now, it is a combination of dance and acrobatics for anybody looking for excitement as well as health benefits.”
Little, a member of the synchro team that claimed gold at the Pan American Games in Mexico last year, discussed her move, her motives and her new career in an interview with the National Post:
Olympic and world champions Tessa Virtue of London, Ont., and Scott Moir of Ilderton, Ont., were the ice dance victors at the Rostelecom Cup on Saturday.
Virtue and Moir also dominated with a season-best 173.99 points. It is the third time in four seasons that the Canadians have won the maximum two Grand Prix in a season.
“It was great, a really solid performance for us,” said Virtue. “From beginning until the end there was a little bit more intensity in every movement. Our goal this year was not to repeat any element we’ve done in the past; every lift, footwork and spin is new. That’s risky in ice dancing and at this point in the year we have to stay focused on the big goal and continue building to the worlds.”
