A Foreign Life - 2008 World's Figure Skating Championships

A Foreign Life

Mar. 23, 2008

2008 World's Figure Skating Championships

This past week has seen new world champions in the sport of figure skating which have taken place in Sweden. I didn't get to see much of it since most of the competition is shown on the US ESPN which is not the version we get here. However, I did get to settle in this afternoon and see the Ladies Free Skate. That's always my favorite venue anyway. It was most enjoyable to watch and, as always, there are new "favorites" to enjoy.

This year my favorites were the Japanese and Korean skaters. I had read about them but hadn't seen them skate. Japan has an amazing pool of ladies' figure skaters. They are beautiful to watch.

This year the US team had only one member to stand on the podium. Johnny Weir won the bronze medal in the men's category after the withdrawal from the competition by US champion, Evan Lysacek due to injury. After a rare fall, the US Ice Dance team of Belbin and Agosto fell out of reach of the podium. They were the favorites to win the gold and I'm sorry they didn't make it. They are really good. Kimmie Meissner skated much better than she did at the US Nationals but was unable to land in the top five. In spite of that, the little I did get to see was delightful.

Mao Asada
Japan
2008 World Champion

Kim Yu Na
Korea
Bronze Medalist

Yukari Nakano
Japan
After what most thought a near perfect performance, including being the only skater to successfully complete a triple axel jump, Yukari dropped from third to fourth place. Her performance was spectacular and the audience was confused and very unhappy when her scores were given.