 Skate
Today has teamed up with Barry Mittan to provide you an insight into
the personalities of the people in this wonderful sport and to give
you a more personal connection when you watch them on television or
see them at an event. Mr. Mittan is the author or editor of several
books and hundreds of figure skating articles. All of Barry's stories
are reviewed by the skaters, and their coaches or others if requested,
before publication to ensure the greatest accuracy.
All current
articles and many previous articles may be read in their entirety by
following the links below. Mr. Mittan retains all copyrights for these
articles and they may not be reproduced without permission. Please visit
www.jbmittan.com for more details.
Archived Articles
2008
January - March 2008
2007
2006
2005
2004 |
February 04, 2010
Article by J. Barry Mittan
 Ice dancers Meryl Davis and Charlie White won their second consecutive gold medal at U. S. Nationals last week to qualify for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver in February. The dancers are the top-ranked ice dancing couple in the world this season after winning the 2009-10 ISU Grand Prix Final in December as well as two Grand Prix events in the fall.
The dancers scored a personal best 222.29 total points to best 2009 world silver medalists Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto by 3.78 points.
Davis and White earned 45.42 points in the compulsory dance, the Golden Waltz.
"We've done a waltz every year for the last ten years," he added. "Waltzes come easy for us and feel very natural."
"We haven't been senior that long so we had done the Golden Waltz but not the tango," White stated. "Both the Golden Waltz and the tango are very different dances and the skating skills required are tremendous, but we're comfortable with the steps." |
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January 17, 2010
Article by J. Barry Mittan
 Lauri Bonacorsi and Travis Mager won the novice dance title at the 2009 U. S. Nationals in their first season together and are now competing in juniors.
"We set goals for the season and reassess as we go along," Mager said. "This year, we would love to go to Junior Worlds. We don't have any explicit long-term goals. We just want to go as far as we can with each other."
"We went into Nationals with no expectations last year," Mager said. "We did great competition-wise but it was really a growing year."
The dancers won the bronze medal at their first ISU Junior Grand Prix in Lake Placid, NY in September 2009 and placed ninth at the ISU JGP in Dresden, Germany, their first competition overseas.
"We had a lot of success last season," Bonacorsi noted... |
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January 10, 2010
Article by J. Barry Mittan
 Canada's Brittany Jones and Kurtis Gaskell began skating together in March 2007 and quickly became successful. They placed second in Canada in novice pairs in 2008 and won the junior pairs gold medal in 2009.
Gaskell attributed their success to Jones' work ethic. "She's not lazy so that makes me work harder and we get a lot done," he said.
"We're very patient with each other," Jones added. "A lot of couples fight, but we don't fight ever."
The couple won the bronze medal at their first international, the ISU Junior Grand Prix in Torun, Poland in September, but finished eighth in Dresden, Germany in October... |
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January 03, 2010
Article by J. Barry Mittan
 Britney Simpson and Nathan Miller, the 2009 U.S. national pewter medalists, won the bronze medal at the ISU Junior Grand Prix in Dresden, Germany in October and placed fourth at the ISU JGP in Lake Placid, New York, their first international event.
Their goals for the season include winning the junior pairs title at U. S. Nationals and reaching the podium at Junior Worlds.
Simpson, who is only 13, started skating when she was about five and a half.
"I was going swimming at the same place where they had a skating rink," Simpson recalled. "I saw the girls skating in the sparkly dresses and I wanted to twirl around like they did. So I stopped swimming and started skating."
Miller, who is 21, started out on the ice when he was five... |
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December 27, 2009
Article by J. Barry Mittan
 Felicia Zhang and Taylor Toth are among the rising stars in U. S. junior pairs skating. The couple, who teamed together in May 2009, have already competed in two ISU Junior Grand Prixs. They placed sixth at the ISU Junior Grand Prix in Torun, Poland and 11th in Dresden, Germany.
"Our goal was to try to get some Junior Grand Prixs to get experience before Nationals," Toth sad. "I've done the JGPs in Quebec and Slovakia, but Felicia had not done any. It was really beneficial for us as a new team. We did OK at both of them."
"Now we know what others are doing and what we need to work on," Zhang added.
Toth, 21, first went skating when he was seven years old. "My mom and dad wanted to go to public skating so they took me along," he said. "I skated and played hockey in recreational leagues but I always had a problem with offsides... |
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