Olympics Times – Sports Daily

The International Figure Skating Union’s Grand Prix Series enters its 15th season this weekend with its first event: The Trophee Eric Bompard Cachemire, in Paris. Competition starts Friday in competition, the first of six that will lead up to the Grand Prix Final in Tokyo in December and the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. It will feature some interesting storylines.

Ladies’ Singles

Carolina Kostner

This event has perhaps the most stacked ladies’ field of the Grand Prix season. Two of figure skating’s greatest rivals will meet in this event as Korean World Champion Kim Yu-Na and 2008 World Champion and faces Grand Prix Final champ Mao Asada of Japan.

Kim, who has been training with Brian Orser in Toronto, blew away the field at the worlds in Los Angeles with a record score. She will show off new programs choreographed by David Wilson – George Gershwin’s “Piano Concerto in F Major” in the long program and a short program to a medley of music from “James Bond 007″, considered unusual music for figure skating.

The archrivals will also be joined by Italy’s Carolina Kostner, but the hotly-anticipated comeback of American Sasha Cohen has been iced as the 2006 Olympic silver medallist who is making a comeback, has pulled out of the competition after suffering an injured calf in practice. Japan’s Yukari Nakano and Caroline Zhang of the U.S. may also challenge. There are no Canadian women in this event.

Entries: Mao Asada (Japan), Candice Didier (France), Sasha Cohen, United States, Gwendoline Didier (France), Elene Gedevanishvili, (Georgia), Alexe Gilles (USA), Yu-Na Kim (South Korea), Kiira Korpi (Finland), Carolina Kostner (Italy), Yukari Nakano (Japan), Caroline Zhang (USA), Anna Jurkiewicz (Poland)

Men’s Singles

Brian Joubert, the 2007 world champion from France, launches his season in front of his home fans and will no doubt be trying to vindicate himself after finishing with what he considered a disappointing bronze medal at the 2009 Worlds.

A five-time world medallist known for his big jumps, Joubert is likely to be challenged in Paris by Nobunari Oda. The Japanese skater is in top form, winning last year’s NHK Trophy, after being banned for three months by his national federation in 2007 for drunk driving. Russia’s Sergei Voronov and Tomáš Verner of Czech Republic will also be in the running for spots on the podium. Vaughn Chipeur is the only Canadian man in the event as he begins his quest for the nation’s second spot at the Olympics.

Entries: Vaughn Chipeur (Canada), Chao Yang (China), Tomas Verner (Czech Republic), Brian Joubert (France), Yannick Ponsero (France), Alban Preaubert (France), Peter Liebers (Germany), Nobunari Oda (Japan), Sergei Voronov (Russia), Javier Fernandez (Spain), Ryan Bradley (USA), Adam Rippon (USA)

Pairs

Canadians Bryce Davison and Jessica Dubé will face the world’s finest pairs competition right off the bat in Paris when they return to the romantic style of skating that so suited them before their experimental season last year. They will meet world champions Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy of Germany, the reigning world champs. It’s the first of two meetings between the two teams during this Grand Prix season. The second will be at Skate Canada in Kitchener, Ont., in late November.

Russians Maria Mukhortova and Maxim Trankov, coached by Olympic champ Oleg Vassiliev, may also figure into the podium.

Entries: Adeline Canac and Maximin Coia (France), Marissa Castelli and Simon Shnapir (USA), Huibo Dong and Yiming Wu (China), Jessica Dubé and Bryce Davison (Canada), Vanessa James and Yannick Bonheur (France), Maria Mukhortova and Maxim Trankov (Russia), Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy, Germany

Ice Dance

Canadians Tessa Virtue, of London, Ont. and Scott Moir, of Ilderton, Ont. are making their return to the Grand Prix circuit after missing the series last season when Virtue had to have surgery on both of her shins. They returned late in the season to earn bronze at the world championships, and they feel confident now that they are the best ice dance team in the world. They will debut their highly-anticipated new programs: a flamenco original dance and a free dance to Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 5.

Virtue and Moir enter the competition as the clear favourite but can expect some good competition from the French team of Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat, Sinead and John Kerr of Great Britain, and Americans Emily Samuelson and Evan.

Entries: Zoé Blanc and Pierre-Loup Bouquet (France), Kristina Gorshkova and Vitali Butikov, (Russia), Madison Hubbell and Keiffer Hubbell (USA), Sinead Kerr and John Kerr (Great Britain), Kimberly Navarro and Brent Bommentre (USA), Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat (France), Ekaterina Rubleva and Ivan Shefer (Russia), Emily Samuelson and Evan Bates (USA), Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir (Canada)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Seven-times Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong will return to competition at this week’s Tour of the Gila in New Mexico after recovering from collarbone surgery, race organizers said Tuesday.

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Lance Armstrong’s hopes of riding in the Tour de France improve after anti-doping officials choose not to seek sanctions over a disputed drug test.
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Fabien Pelous, France’s most capped player, reveals he will retire from rugby at the end of the season.
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Former Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong says the French anti-doping agency (AFLD) could prevent him from riding in this year’s race.
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The head of world cycling says France’s anti-doping agency acted unprofessionally following a drugs test on Lance Armstrong.
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PARIS (Reuters) – Lance Armstrong violated anti-doping rules during a random test in Southern France and could face disciplinary action, the French Anti-Doping Agency (AFLD) said Thursday.

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LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Seven-times Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong was recovering from surgery on Wednesday after having a stainless steel plate and 12 screws inserted to stabilize his fractured right collarbone.

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LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Seven-times Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong still hopes to ride in May’s Giro d’Italia, even though his broken collarbone is more serious than initially suspected.

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Cycling legend Lance Armstrong fractures his collarbone in Spain’s Vuelta Castilla y Leon and is a doubt for the Tour de France.
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Wales take on Ireland in the championship decider, while France and England end their campaigns with victories.
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NEW YORK (Reuters) – Back after a two-year doping ban, Floyd Landis is trying to decide whether to follow fellow American Lance Armstrong’s example and ride again in the Tour de France.

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England manager Martin Johnson urges his side to continue their improvement after seeing them hand out a 34-10 Six Nations hiding to France.
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England beat France 34-10 with some magnificent attacking rugby in a five-try rout at Twickenham.
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MONTAGNE DE LURE, France (Reuters) – Alberto Contador regained the overall lead of the Paris-Nice race in spectacular fashion with victory in the sixth stage from St Paul Trois Chateaux to the summit of the Montagne de Lure Friday.

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ST ETIENNE, France (Reuters) – American Christian Vande Velde won the fourth stage of the Paris-Nice race as favorite Alberto Contador made up lost ground with a sharp attack in the last climb on Wednesday.

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Uefa will assess bids from France, Italy, Turkey and a joint proposal from Norway and Sweden to host Euro 2016.
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Lindsey Vonn won her fourth straight super-G race Sunday and promised to chase more trophies on the women’s World Cup circuit after a successful stop in Bulgaria.
“There is no conservative skiing for me,” the 24-year-old American said. “I have to be really aggressive—that’s my strategy.”
After three races here, the defending overall World Cup champion widened her lead in the standings to nearly 400 points. She also moved into contention for the super-G trophy a day after clinching the downhill title, joining her idol, Picabo Street, as the only Americans to win back-to-back titles in the discipline.
On Sunday, Vonn won the super-G in 1 minute, 14.49 seconds, sweeping aside concerns caused by an injured thumb and a bruising fall in training three days ago.
Two of the tournament’s standouts, Fabienne Suter of Switzerland and Tina Maze of Slovenia, lagged by 0.58 and 0.91 seconds for second and third place.
Bulgaria’s bumpy and icy course—used for the first time on the women’s circuit—hurt Vonn’s main rivals in the overall standings.
Germany’s Maria Riesch, who tied for fifth place Sunday, is now 391 points behind Vonn’s tally of 1,556 in the overall standings. Anja Paerson of Sweden, third overall with 986 points, finished her first race in Bulgaria for 10th place in the super-G.
“I think all my disciplines are better this year,” Vonn said. “Super-G has been the best season in my life, above and beyond what I expected this year.”
The American closed within 15 points of Suter in the super-G standings.

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