2014 Four Continents Championships: A Guide
SYWTW FS
The 2014 Four Continents Championships (4CC for short) is being held this week in Taipei, Taiwan. Here is a guide on how to watch!
SCHEDULE
Convert to your time zone
US Eastern time
Jan. 22nd
Short dance 12:00
Pairs SP 15:00
Men’s SP 17:50
Jan. 23rd
Free dance 13:30
Ladies’ SP 17:15
Jan. 24th
Pairs’ FS 14:45
Men’s FS 17:35
Jan. 25th
Ladies’ FS 12:24
Gala 17:00
HOW TO WATCH
If you live in the US and have an Icenetwork subscription, they are showing all of 4CC live. If you don’t have an IN subscription, now might not be the best time to buy it, since the 2013-2014 season is more than half over. Here are free streams!
http://seetv.tv/see/xsport
http://all-tv.org/xsport.html
http://simple-tv.com/channel.php?channel_name=xsport
http://goaltv.ws/xsport/
http://installsat.com.ua/tv-online/telekanal-xsport-online/
http://moetv.ucoz.ru/index/xsport/0-380
http://tvsport24.info/tv_social_online.php?channel=12#
http://sport.gipnomag.ru/xsport-online.html
http://www.glaz.tv/online-tv/xsport
http://onlinetv.simf.com.ua/catalog/index.php?pageid=1727
http://itelevisor.ru/news/xsport/2013-06-09-543
http://belichanka.com/publ/kanal_xsport_smotret_onlajn/1-1-0-12
PREVIEW
Men:
Looks to be a battle between USA, Japan, and possibly Denis Ten of Kazakhstan. Adam Rippon was excellent at Skate America earlier in the season but finished a disappointing 8th at US Nationals a couple weeks ago. He has strong programs and if he can pull it together he can definitely win. Richard Dornbush had a fantastic short program at nationals but crumbled in the long; he’s erratic but don’t totally count him out. Josh Farris was 4th at nationals; this is his first senior international season. He’s a lovely skater and has a decent chance of medaling here.
Takahiko Kozuka could challenge for gold; after a weak GP season he rallied at nationals to win bronze but injuries have taken their toll on him, so it’s hard to say what his jumps are like right now please don’t be a mess i’m begging you. Takahito Mura has the potential to medal but also an equal if not greater potential to fall apart. Keiji Tanaka, Japan’s current junior national champ, will be here to gain experience at a senior international competition for the first time.
Denis Ten is a bit of a question mark; he’s the reigning World silver medalist but was sick/injured for most of the GP season. He did pretty well at a few lower level competitions in the fall though, so if he has his jumps back he could medal or even win 4CC.
Other guys to watch (regardless of whether they can medal or not): Nan Song, Michael Christian Martinez, Jeremy Ten, Nam Nguyen, Misha Ge (who is hilarious)
Ladies:
Battle of the Chronic Underrotaters. Kanako Murakami is coming off two excellent programs and a silver medal at nationals, but she is reportedly having boot problems again, so that might affect her jumps a bit (or a lot). Mirai Nagasu is also coming off an excellent performance at nationals where she was robbed of an Olympic and world spot and could also potentially win 4CC. Satoko Miyahara has good programs and is very consistent; she could medal but it probably depends on how many of her jumps are called UR. Samantha Cesario falls into the same camp. Haruka Imai could either be great or a total disaster, there’s no telling which. Zijun Li has been a question mark this season; she was disastrous during the GP but seems to be doing better in practices recently, and I hope she can have a good competition here.
Other ladies to watch: Brooklee Han, Amelie Lacoste, Hae Jin Kim, So Youn Park
Pairs:
WOW WHAT A DEEP FIELD, WHO KNOWS HOW THIS COULD GO?? First place is probably between Sui/Han and Scimeca/Knierim; S/H should win unless they mess up badly - which they are certainly capable of doing, though I really hope they don’t. Purich/Tran, Kayne/O'Shea, and Denney/Frazier also have chances to medal.
Dance:
First place likely between Hubbell/Donohue and Gilles/Poirier; other teams to watch include K/G-S, Aldridge/Eaton, Ralph/Hill, Orford/Williams, and Min/Koleto in their first international competition for South Korea.