Los Angeles welcomes world's best skaters

Fifteen of the United States' best figure skaters head to the World Championships in Los Angeles on March 22-29, looking to end the competitive season on a high note. Among them are three-time World medalists Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto--also the 2006 Olympic silver medalists--and two-time World bronze medalist Evan Lysacek.

More than 200 athletes from at least 50 countries will compete for 12 medals in the ladies’, men's, pairs and ice dancing events. The competition, which will establish favorites for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, kicks off tomorrow with the compulsory dance and concludes Saturday with the ladies’ free skate.

Ladies

U.S. champion Alissa Czisny (Bowling Green, Ohio) is competing at her second World Championships when the event comes to Los Angeles. She won the bronze medal at the 2007 U.S. Championships and finished 15th that same year at Worlds. She faltered throughout the following season and even considered retirement.

But the Bowling Green State University student returned to competition this season with a renewed focus. Czisny started the season with wins at the Collegiate Championships and the Nebelhorn Trophy. Then she went on to win the bronze medal at Skate Canada and finished fourth at Cup of Russia before claiming her first national title at 21 years old.

Last year's Junior World champion Rachael Flatt (Del Mar, Calif.) is returning to her southern California roots to make her senior Worlds debut. And it might feel like a hometown crowd when the 16-year-old takes the ice at Staples Center.

"My very first coach, Tiffany Mays, is going to be at Worlds watching,” Flatt said. “It will be great to see her and her husband and son again. Some of the other coaches in California, not necessarily ones I took from but ones I knew, are coming up to watch, and most of my friends from both my old rink and my neighborhood are coming. I think we're going to have a big reunion while we're there at some point."

Flatt is the two-time U.S. silver medalist, but after winning her first silver last season, she was not old enough to advance to the World Championships. Instead, she led an American sweep of the ladies’ medals at the World Junior Championships.

The high school honors student finished fourth at 2008 Skate America--the highest placement among the Americans--and won silver at Cup of Russia earlier this season. Flatt was seventh at the Four Continents Championships.

The Americans have a tough challenge ahead of them in L.A. In order for the United States to qualify three female skaters for the 2010 Games, the final placements of Czisny and Flatt must add up to 13 or less.

"I think we're going to have to skate really well in order to get those three ladies' spots back for the Olympics," Flatt said. "It's just another challenge and I'm very excited for it."

International competitors include reigning World champion Mao Asada of Japan, who won gold at the Grand Prix Final and bronze at Four Continents earlier this season, and two-time World bronze medalist Yu-Na Kim of Korea, who was second at the Grand Prix Final but won Four Continents.

Also competing is reigning World silver medalist Carolina Kostner of Italy, who won bronze at the Grand Prix Final. Canada's Joannie Rochette, the Four Continents silver medalist, is heading into Worlds with the hope of establishing herself as a contender to medal at the Winter Games in her home country.

In the Ice Network world rankings, Kim is the top-ranked female skater while Asada, Kostner and Rochette round out the top four. Flatt is ranked No. 10, and Czisny currently is No. 16, but not all ranked skaters--including No. 8 Caroline Zhang (Brea, Calif.)--qualified for the international competition.

Men

National champion Jeremy Abbott (Aspen, Colo.) leads a strong American squad that also includes U.S. silver medalist Brandon Mroz (St. Louis) and bronze medalist Lysacek (Naperville, Calif.) The men are ranked third, 16th and seventh respectively in the Ice Network world rankings.

Abbott is coming into the World Championships after a stellar season that began with a win at Cup of China. He later became the first American man to win the Grand Prix Final, setting the highest score ever recorded by an American man.

"My season so far this year has been incredible,” said Abbott, who won his first national title in January. “I couldn't have asked for more nor did I expect what happened."

After finishing fourth at the U.S. Championships last season, Abbott was named the first alternate for the World Championships. He ended up competing in the place of Lysacek--who withdrew because of a fluke injury sustained during a regular practice session--and finished 11th.

"To say I'm pleased is quite a bit of an understatement," said Abbott, who was fifth at the Four Continents Championships. "It's a great feeling going to Worlds this year and actually qualifying."

Lysacek (Naperville, Ill.) hopes to put on a show for the hometown crowd when he returns to the World Championships. The two-time World bronze medalist relocated to southern California after graduating from high school in 2003.

The two-time U.S. champion comes into Worlds having finished third at January's Nationals, following a fall on the opening quadruple toe during his free skate. Lysacek rebounded to win the silver medal at Four Continents with two near-flawless programs, including a free skate with the quad.

Lysacek started the season with third-place finishes at Skate America and Skate Canada. With those performances, he was unable to qualify for the Grand Prix Final.

"I had a little slow start but I'm hoping to peak by the World Championships," Lysacek said after Four Continents. "This was just a good stepping stone for me. The competition [Four Continents] has changed so much. A lot of the top athletes would pass and not come, and they would take a rest and get ready for Worlds. And now it's become sort of the superpower competition for the men and for the ladies."

Lysacek is among the most experienced skaters on the men's side. In 2006 he finished fourth overall at the Winter Games but went on to win a second consecutive bronze at Worlds.

Mroz comes to Los Angeles as a newcomer on the senior international scene. In his only season as a senior skater, his results include seventh at Skate Canada, fifth at Trophee Eric Bompard and eighth at Four Continents, where he landed a quad toe.

Mroz capped off his junior career with a fourth-place showing at the 2008 World Junior Championships. The season also included gold medals at Junior Grand Prix Austria and Germany, silver at the Junior Grand Prix Final, and another silver at the U.S. Championships.

International competitors include France's Brian Joubert, who is looking to regain his 2007 World Championship title after finishing second last year. Joubert, the reigning European champion, currently is the top-ranked skater in the world.

Also competing is Canada's Patrick Chan, who won Four Continents, and Japan's Takahiko Kozuka, the Four Continents bronze medalist. Chan (No. 2) finished fifth at the Grand Prix Final while Kozuka (No. 5) was second.

Reigning World champion Jeffrey Buttle of Canada retired before the start of the season. Also missing from the competition is reigning World bronze medalist Johnny Weir (No. 6) of the United States, who won the bronze medal at the Grand Prix Final but did not qualify for the World team because of his fifth-place performance at nationals.

To qualify three American men for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, the placements of the two highest finishing U.S. men cannot exceed 13.

Pairs

No American pairs team has won a medal at the World Championships since Kyoko Ina and John Zimmerman took the bronze medal in 2002. Two-time U.S. champions Keauna McLaughlin (Los Angeles) and Rockne Brubaker (Algonquin, Ill.) hope to end that drought in McLaughlin's hometown.

“…This last part of the season, what we've really been trying to focus on is, for Worlds, going and just putting out two great skates," Brubaker said. "Without thinking about just the medals, we know that, if we go and we skate really well and we put out two really solid performances, that we have the ability to be on the medal stand."

It will mark the World Champion debut for McLaughlin and Brubaker, as she was too young to compete at last year's competition. But the pair has been Worlds caliber since joining together after the 2005-06 season.

McLaughlin and Brubaker medaled in 11 consecutive competitions before a fifth-place finish at the 2009 Four Continents Championships. Among the medals they collected include: gold at the 2006 Junior Grand Prix Final and 2007 World Junior Championships; silver at 2007 Cup of China; 2007 NHK Trophy and 2008 Skate America; bronze at 2008 Skate Canada.

McLaughlin and Brubaker's largest successes may be their three consecutive national titles, including their junior pairs victory in 2007, but they have all the skills necessary to compete with the world. They changed parts of their short program from Nationals to Worlds to maximize their strengths.

"It's gonna look quite a bit different," Brubaker said. "The first part is the same up to our triple twist but after that, quite a bit of it is different. It's definitely more comfortable. It definitely plays to the judges a little bit better and it works with the flow."

Joining McLaughlin and Brubaker in Los Angeles are U.S. silver medalists Caydee Denney (Wesley Chapel, Fla.) and Jeremy Barrett (Venice, Fla.). The Florida-based couple, who won the Nationals short program, shocked the skating world by claiming a spot on the World team after forming their partnership approximately six months earlier.

Denney and Barrett’s only previous international experience is a fourth-place finish at the Nebelhorn Trophy and a sixth-place showing at Four Continents. The pair also won the Eastern Sectional Championships.

To qualify three American pairs for the 2010 Games, the Americans’ placements in Los Angeles cannot exceed 13. The United States has qualified only two couples for the most recent Winter Games.

McLaughlin and Brubaker are ranked eighth while their American counterparts are unranked.

"Most of these teams that are in the top 10 in the world, they've been on the international circuit or they've been competing internationally for five to 10 years," Brubaker said. "Most of them already have an Olympics under their belt."

International competitors include reigning World champions Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy of Germany, who are the top-ranked pair in the world. Also competing are China's Qing Pang and Jian Tong (No. 2), the former World champions who won this season's Grand Prix Final and Four Continents Championship.

The reigning World bronze medalists Jessica Dube and Bryce Davison (No. 5), who compete for Canada, also will compete as will the 2006 Olympic silver medalists Dan Zhang and Hao Zhang (No. 3) of China.

Ice Dance

All three American couples come into the World Championships with a chance to medal. On the prestigious Grand Prix of Figure Skating circuit, each of three dance couples representing the United States in Los Angeles medaled in at least one event.

Leading the charge are the newly crowned U.S. champions Meryl Davis (West Bloomfield, Mich.) and Charlie White (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.), who recently won the Four Continents Championships. Their season also includes Skate Canada gold, Cup of Russia bronze and Grand Prix Final bronze. At the 2008 World Championships, the duo finished sixth.

Nationals silver medalists Emily Samuelson (Ann Arbor, Mich.) and Evan Bates (Ann Arbor, Mich.) come to Los Angeles after winning the bronze medal at Four Continents. The twosome won the bronze medal at the NHK after finishing fourth at Skate America. They are the 2008 Junior World champions.

The 2009 World Championships mark the return to competition for five-time U.S. champions Belbin (Kingston, Ontario) and Agosto (Chicago). They withdrew from December's Grand Prix Final and January's national championships because of Agosto's back injury.

Before the injury, Belbin and Agosto collected silver medals this season at Skate America and the Cup of China. Los Angeles marks the ninth consecutive World Championship appearance. The Olympic silver medalists won the World silver medal in 2005 before taking back-to-back bronze medals in 2006 and 2007. They were fourth last season.

International competitors include Russia's Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin, who won the silver medal at the Grand Prix Final, and Russia's reigning World bronze medalists Jana Khokhlova and Sergei Novitski, the European champions. The Russians are ranked second and fourth respectively in the world.

Also competing are Canada's Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir (No. 7). The reigning World silver medalists sat out the fall season because of an injury, but returned with a win at the Canadian Championships and a silver medal at the Four Continents.

Davis and White currently are the third-ranked couple in the world, according to the Ice Network standings. Belbin and Agosto, hurt by their absence, are No. 5 while Samuelson and Bates are No. 9.