In front of a packed crowd at the Iceberg Skating Palace, Danielle O’Brien and Greg Merriman have given a strong and entertaining free program. Coming into the Sochi Games, the pair from Sydney had set themselves the goal of making the free program. After achieving that last night, the new goal was set – to have fun.

Performing a routine with choreography and music inspired by the circus, the pair exuded playfulness and enthusiasm from the moment they stepped onto the ice.

“We definitely had fun,” O’Brien said with her trademark dazzling smile. “I think I was having so much fun that I didn’t notice that my legs hurt until I had finished. So that made it a lot easier.”

O’Brien and Merriman were the fifth couple to skate, taking to the ice after Victoria Sinitsina and Ruslan Zhiganshin of Russia who had the crowd roaring.

“It was such a buzz skating after the Russian team,” O’Brien said. “I kept thinking they were chanting ‘Danielle’ not ‘Russia’. We didn’t have enough Aussies in the stands to take over the chant so we just caught onto the Russian one.

“It was one of those moments – you rarely get to skate in an arena where people are going so crazy. It was so exciting.”

The Aussies delivered a solid program, with some small deductions for errors in their synchronised twizzle and circular step sequence.

“There were a few mistakes,” Merriman conceded. “I know I dropped at least one level on the twizzles. The steps may have been a bit rough but it was pretty clean technically. We had a little bit of speed off today but I think that’s from the late night and early practice.”

“I was yawning all through the four skaters before us,” O’Brien added, agreeing that the pair had struggled with being tired after last night’s short program.

“Now I’m thankful the lights are so bright because it kept me awake! But as soon as you step out onto that ice, as soon as you step out into the arena you don’t feel tired anymore.”

To the crowd, the pair certainly looked anything but tired, delivering their performance with the energy and emotion that it deserved.

“This is our second year of this program,” Merriman said. “So we know it like the back of our hand. It requires so much energy and theatrics. It looks like the energy drops if we are not theatrical in it so even in practice we do our best to smile. It’s almost our pain reflex now – ‘turn that frown upside down!’”

“Coaches often say - don’t make your smile so fake, but there was no way to fake a smile out there tonight because it was just so fun," O'Brien added.

Their free dance score of 75.85 brought O’Brien and Merriman to a total of 128.53. Although the score is unlikely to see them climb above their short program ranking of 20th, they wrap up their Olympic experience thrilled to have met all their own expectations and had fun along the way.

At 24 and 25 respectively, O’Brien and Merriman are now faced with the decision about their future in the sport.

“We will be going to Worlds and from there we are not really sure what we are going to do,” Merriman said. “Four years would be a really long time, I’ll be almost 30 by then, so it will be a big decision. Australia is home and I want to be at home in the long run. So it’s just a matter of deciding financially and physically what we want to do.”

The defending Olympic Champions, Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir of Canada, were sitting in second place after the short program. The pair skated a near flawless program to a medley of classical music to score a new season’s best of 114.66 to bring them to a total of 190.99.

Russia had two couples in the final group and at the end of Elena Ilinykh and Nikita Katsalapov’s performance there were no fewer than 50 bunches of flowers rocketed onto the rink. The standing ovation carried right through from the end of their skate to the results which saw them all but guarantee them a medal on 183.48.

The final couple to take to the arena were Vancouver silver medallists Meryl Davis and Charlie White of the USA. Leading after the short, Davis and White were mesmerising, earning 116.63 for a total of 195.52 and the gold medal.

Their friends and training partners, Virtue and Moir, took the silver medal and the hometown favourites Ilinykh and Katsalapov took the bronze.

Alice Wheeler | sochi2014.olympics.com.au

Danielle O’Brien and Greg Merriman have delivered the performance of their careers in the short program of the Ice Dancing on Sunday night in Sochi. It has been 26 years since Australia was represented in Olympic Ice Dancing at the Calgary 1988 Games. 

It was worth the wait.

O’Brien, 24, and Merriman, 25, made their Olympic debut in style, achieving 52.68 for their short dance.

“It was a season’s best score, and a season’s best performance,” O’Brien said, unable to wipe the smile off her face.

Skating to music from the Cotton Club, it was clear from the very first beat that they were having fun, which ultimately translated into a great performance.

“It felt great out there. Every time we did an element, it stuck and it hit perfectly. I knew when we were doing it that it was one of our strongest performances. To have that confirmed by the mark and then to qualify – wow,” she said.

"It's just the icing on the cake of 15 years of dreaming, hoping, waiting and wondering what it would be like. It's all of those things put together. It's the best experience ever."

Needing to finish in the top 20 for a chance to contest the free skate, the score locked the pair into qualification, with four pairs sitting below them on the standings.

“We’ve just been waiting to perform our free dance,” O’Brien said. “Our free dance is all about having fun, but we thought – let’s just have fun today in case we are not here tomorrow.”

“To be out there in the rink and know the weight there is on being at an Olympics was amazing,” Merriman added. “We wanted to put it all out there, show people how much work we have done. It was important for us to take it in as much as possible, it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity.”

The performance was just rewards for the hard-working athletes from Sydney whose last Olympic campaign was derailed by illness.

Danielle O’Brien and Greg Merriman have further stamped their names in the history books, securing a record seventh consecutive national ice dancing title.

The pair from Sydney have been competing together since 1998 and won their first senior national title in 2007. Seven years later and they are stronger than ever and en route to their debut Olympic Winter Games.

“It felt really good out there today, a lot better than our short dance yesterday,” 23-year-old O’Brien said.

“I really noticed the crowd a lot more, I could feel their energy and I was able to use it in my performance.”

O’Brien and Merriman’s free routine, based around circus elements, perfectly captures the natural larrikinism the pair embodies on and off the ice.

Nineteen-year-old Brendan Kerry entered the long program as the second-ranked athlete behind David Kranjec who touched him out for the top spot in the short by 0.42 points. Kerry got the better of him in the free skate however, taking out the national title ahead of Kranjec.

It was Kerry’s second senior title, having also won in 2011, but importantly it was his first chance to debut his Olympic free skate routine in competition.

“My coaches won’t be too happy with it,” Kerry said. “I popped a few jumps which is not okay, I was a bit lazy and missed some of my steps.”

After securing Olympic qualification, Kerry and his coaches decided to put together a new free skate with more difficult technical elements including two quad jumps.

Although he popped the quad jump today, Kerry was happy to have put together his new routine giving him vital competition practice ahead of the Four Continents and Olympics.

For the first time, Kerry has also brought character to his free performance – something he finds more difficult than the technical elements of the skating itself. Kerry will be channelling a French waiter in his program.

“It doesn’t come naturally to me,” he said of the performance aspect of his routine. “I would rather go out there and be serious and just skate, but I know it’s important so I’m working on it.”

And how will he be working on it? French restaurants will be an important feature. Along with watching some famous movies recommended by his choreographer for him to really get into character.

Representing Victoria, Brooklee Han won her first senior national title, grabbing top spot in the senior ladies’ event with a combined score of 161.42.

“It’s really exciting,” 18-year-old Han said. “It’s my first national title so I’m happy with that.”

After falling on her first jump, Han recovered to put together a strong free skate to earn 102.81.

“Overall it was not perfect,” she said. “I’ve been training it much better and it went a lot better this morning in practice. But there were parts of it that I was very happy with. After falling on the first [jump] I was happy to get the second one down in combination.”

Falling is a part and parcel of figure skating, but how the athlete recovers is paramount to their overall performance.

“Sometimes it can be tough,” Han said. “There’s a quote from another skater that I like to think of though – ‘Every program begins again with every new element’. If you make a mistake, it’s in the past and you have to move on.

“I have a lot to take with me from this competition. I am trying to push myself faster into jumps. This was a nice event and different to others I have skated in. I hope to take the positive energy from the crowd home with me for the rest of the season.”

All four national champions will now return to their training bases in the USA as they prepare for their next big competition, the Four Continents Championships taking place in Taipei from 20 – 26 January.

Alice Wheeler | sochi2014.olympics.com.au

The jury is still out on who will represent Australia in the Ladies figure skating event at the final Olympic qualification competition in Obersdorf, Germany next month.

Olympic hopeful Chantelle Kerry (16) of Sydney, skated a near perfect Short Program on Wednesday night, but her performance in the Free Program tonight left her just short of a straight forward selection by only 4.32 points.

Chantelle needed to achieve 141.88 or more to beat out Brooklee Han of Victoria, to get a straight bearth to the Obersdorf competition.

Brooklee was unable to compete at Skate Down Under this week due to illness so a decision must be made as to whether officicals send her or Chantelle to try and secure the Olympic quota place.

A decision will be made in coming days so it’s business as usual for Chantelle who will get straight back into training, focusing on the upcoming Junior Grand Prix event in Poland.

Ice Dancers Danielle O’Brien and Gregory Merriman, both from Sydney, skated away with the gold medal tonight beating out the visiting Swiss team, Romana Elsener and Florian Roost.

Brendan Kerry (19) from Sydney, skated the performance of his life tonight and achieved the highest score for an Australian in an International event since the new International Judging System came into play in 2005 with 192.28 points.

Ice Skating Australia will confirm the selections for the Obersdorf competition in the next few days.
Skate Down Under was held at Canterbury Olympic Ice Rink, Sydney from 20-22 August 2013. For full details of Skate Down Under visit www.isa.org.au

Follow Skate Down Under at @IceSkatingAUS

Day one of the Senior events at Skate Down Under is complete. The success of Australian skaters tonight and tomorrow will determine who Ice Skating Australia (ISA) will send to the final Olympic qualification competition in Germany.

Skaters must achieve a minimum technical score in order to be eligible for nomination to the Obersdorf qualifying event for the Sochi Winter Olympics.

As the competition stands Chantelle Kerry is in the lead with a personal best technical score of 43.82 followed by Sumika Yamada of Hong Kong with 40.70.

Ice dancers, Danielle O’Brien and Gregory Merriman, having already achieved the required technical score at the Four Continents Competition earlier in the year, sailed through the first part of the dance competition, leading the pack with 57.28 for the Short Dance.

The Senior Men did not let us down with an exciting Short Program event but it was not without drama. David Kranjec from Brisbane, skated a near perfect program but a fall on a spin looked to cost him dearly, leaving the door open for Brendan Kerry.

However, Brendan had a fall in his step sequence but skated an otherwise stella program. Kerry beating out Kranjec in the end by 8.48 with a total of 66.37.

The competition concludes tomorrow night at Canterbury Olympic Ice Rink, Sydney. For full details of Skate Down Under visit www.isa.org.au

Follow Skate Down Under at @IceSkatingAUS

Australia’s first ice dance couple to have medalled at an International competition are returning to Sydney later this month to compete at Skate Down Under and book a ticket to Germany to qualify for Olympics.

Danielle O’Brien and Greg Merriman, Ice-Dancers from Sydney, need to compete at Canterbury Ice Rink, in order to secure a place at the Qualification Competition to be held in Obersdorf in September.

The top Australian place getters from the Senior divisions at Skate Down Under will go on to skate in Germany for their final chance at a spot on Australia’s Winter Olympic team competing at Sochi in 2014.

Danielle and Greg were unlucky four years ago at the Olympic qualifying event when Greg became ill and unable to skate, missing their chance to represent Australia at the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Over the last four years the Olympic Winter Institute Scholarship winners, have been living in Detroit, USA and training with Olympic silver medalist, Anjelika Krylova and her husband Pasquale Camerlengo.

They have made huge strides up the ice dance ladder this season. They are now ranked 25th in the World and picked up Australia’s first International medal for Ice-Dance.

Skate Down Under will be the last opportunity for ice-skating fans to see the couple perform their Olympic programs before the do or die Olympic Qualification event in Germany in September.

Also being decided at Skate Down Under will be the Olympic qualification place for the Ladies and Mens event, which will be hotly contested by Australia’s best figure skaters including Brooklee Han, Chantelle Kerry, David Kranjec and Brendan Kerry.

Danielle and Greg compete at 5.30pm on Wednesday, 21 August and 6.15pm Thursday, 22 August. For full details of Skate Down Under visit www.isa.org.au

Follow O’Brien and Merriman on twitter: @OBrienMerriman

As the 2013 World Figure Skating Championships get underway in London, Ontario in Canada, Australian Ice Dance champions, Danielle O’Brien and Greg Merriman can only watch on from their training base in Detroit, just a 90-minute drive away.

The ice dance team have made rapid progress up the world and season’s rankings with an international bronze medal, two fourth places and 8th in the Four Continents Championship, but have been held out of the 2013 World Championships after failing to record a minimum technical score in the Short Dance.

A minimum technical score for World Championship entry was introduced mid last year to reduce the number of competitors in response to an ISU Congress decision to eliminate preliminary qualifying rounds but allowed scores achieved in international competition from 2011.

With Winter Olympic quota places for Sochi 2014 on the line at this year’s World Championships, the stakes are high for the lower ranked teams in their effort to secure an entry for their countries.

19 Olympic ice dance places will be decided in London, Ontario this week, but the only avenue to Sochi for O’Brien and Merriman now will be the Olympic Qualification competition in Germany in September for one of the remaining five spots.

For O’Brien and Merriman it’s been a tough pill to swallow having placed ahead of nine qualified dance teams this season, some up to four times, but now all they can do is watch.
Speaking from Detroit, Danielle O’Brien said they had already moved on.

“Although we are disappointed and now Worlds is out of reach, we have moved on. We are happy to have the head start on next season and have made pretty good progress so far,” Danielle said.

“We have broken down the Finnstep Short Dance for the next season and doing a lot of exercises in order to have every edge in the dance correct before they [the ISU] even release the key points.”

“I must say it's going pretty well and I'm surprised it’s moving so quickly. We can already skate a fairly good, full pattern,” Danielle said.

“Our goals have been readjusted without worlds in the equation and will skate our own ‘mini-worlds’ here in Detroit, aiming to skate a clean Finnstep to the music. We’ve been close to achieving that before Worlds even starts.”

The determined Olympic Winter Institute Of Australia scholarship holders moved to Detroit 18 months ago in their quest to represent Australia at the Olympics and see this setback as a flying start on the coming season.

“We have also been finalising music and working on new lift ideas, new twizzles, a reinvented spin and step sequence options so that we can be prepared for when choreography begins,” she said.

“All in all - it’s going well. We are definitely treating 'no worlds' as a head start on all the teams who will be four weeks behind us in preparation for Oberstdorf [Olympic Qualifying event].”

Australia’s lone entrant at the 2013 World Figure Skating Championships is 17-year-old Brooklee Han, who recently placed a solid 15th place at the Junior World Championships.

Article:Belinda Noonan

Australian Ice Dance champions and OWIA/AIS scholarship holders, Danielle O’Brien and Greg Merriman added their fourth consecutive personal best performance at the ISU Four Continents Championship in Osaka, Japan last night finishing in a career-best 8th place.

Olympic silver medalists Meryl Davis and Charlie White from USA won their second Four Continents Championship over Canadian Olympic gold medalists and rivals, Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir.

The win for Davis and White over their Canadian training partners is the second this season and occurred after Virtue and Moir stopped mid performance prior to a lift, appearing to be out of breath. The couple were allowed to continue after a two-minute break, but by then the spell had been broken.

For O’Brien and Merriman, who moved to Detroit, USA, to train with Pasquale Camerlengo and Anjelika Krylova last year, the high scores achieved in Osaka, which would rank them within the top 20 in the world is bitter-sweet.

The Sydney team, who have made an impressive climb through the ranks this season, including a bronze medal in Poland four weeks ago, will be prevented from competing at the World Championships following a harsh decision by the International Skating Union last week not to lower the minimum score for Ice Dance, but lowering the score for all other disciplines.

It is thought that the decision by the Dance Technical Committee not to lower the scores was 3 – 2 against. Danielle and Greg have exceeded the minimum score twice for the Free Dance but are .5 outside the Short Dance score.

The ISU decision effectively locks out O’Brien and Merriman from the opportunity to qualify a direct Australian entry in the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Nineteen quota places will be allocated at the 2013 Worlds in London, Canada next month. The Australians, who were ranked 20th at last year’s World Championships will now have to rely on claiming one of the remaining five quota places at the Olympic Qualification Competition in September.

Australia’s Brooklee Han and Chantelle Kerry both had strong performances, placing 12th and 14th respectively the final in the ladies Championship. For Brooklee, who was within a mere .30 of the higher ISU qualifying score, the opportunity for an Olympic berth beckons after the ISU dropped the 2013 Worlds Ladies minimum technical score requirement by two points.

Landing four strong triple jumps and performing her trademark spins to their best potential, Brooklee stayed ahead of her teammate and current Australian Champion, Chantelle Kerry, who completed two or her planned four triples.

Bendan Kerry and David Kranjec finished 21st and 23rd in the men's event.

Ice dancers Danielle O’Brien and Gregory Merriman have continued their record breaking season, winning Australia’s first international medal after taking bronze in Torun, Poland at the Mentor Nesquik Cup overnight.

Up against the higher ranked Ukraine winners, Siobhan Heekin-Canedy and Dmitriy Dun and Japanese silver medallists Cathy and Chris Reed, the Australian champions finished their engaging circus-themed free dance for a personal best overall score of 128.42, and also achieved the International Skating Union (ISU) minimum entry score for World Championships for the final dance.

“Finally making the podium and being a part of the medal presentations was just amazing,” Danielle O’Brien said. “I nearly made a mistake on one of the spins, but covered it and we are really happy with our performance. We are very proud, but we still have the Short Dance score to achieve and only one event left to do it.”

The pressure on the Sydney couple is mounting as they approach their last opportunity at the Four Continents Championships next month in Japan to reach the required 29.00 minimum score in the Short Dance, before the 2013 World Championships in late March.

“Scoring 28.50 in the Short Dance was so close. We were happy to be in third position at that point, but would trade the place for last if was 29 points,” Danielle told her father from Poland.
Bronze medal for O'Brien and Merriman. Photo: Kylie Yacopetti

Bronze medal for O’Brien and Merriman. Photo: Kylie Yacopetti

The Olympic Winter Institute of Australia scholarship holders have been based in Detroit with top coaches Pasquale Camerlengo, Anjelika Krylova and Massimo Scali since late 2011 in a bid to achieve their Olympic dream.

Their string of history-making achievements for Australian Ice Dancing this year include breaking into the top 20 at the 2012 World Championships, winning their sixth straight national title, moving onto the podium in Poland after two narrow 4th place misses and posting personal bests.

Other world-class ice dancers, such as the 12th placed Chinese team at World’s in 2012, are in the same predicament as they struggle to make the unusually high target scores prior to the 2013 World Championships. Compounding the problem for national federations, and indeed the ISU, is that the 2013 World Figure Skating Championships are an Olympic qualifying event. In Ice Dance, 19 entries – by country – will be determined with only five remaining entries decided at a further Olympic qualifying event in Germany this September, but only if the skaters make the minimum ISU scores.

“We wouldn’t keep going if we didn’t think we were now world-class,” explained Greg. “Training with Pasquale, Anjelika and all our training partners [which include World Bronze medallists and European Champions Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat from France] is motivating us every single day. Of course it’s hard work, but we are focussed on always improving our technique. Competing in so many events this season has been good for our performance skills and we can feel the difference it has made because we are more prepared and step up a notch at every event.”

Article courtesy of the Burwood Scene

Depsite finishing second in the final free dance event this morning, Australian Ice Dance Champions Danielle O’Brien and Greg Merriman have narrowly missing the international podium after placing fourth overall at the Ice Challenge Trophy in Graz, Austria.

Going into the free dance and final section of the event, the Sydney couple, now based in Detroit, were sitting in fourth after the short dance and were hoping to go one better.

“Last month in Slovakia, we placed 4th and that was our best-ever international result, so we had hopes of going one better but we are very happy with our skate. This is a tough year because the International Skating Union has brought in a minimum score to be eligible for the World Championships and many teams are finding that score hard to attain, including us,” said Danielle from Graz.

“You know it’s difficult when many world-ranked teams are struggling to make the score this year,” Greg explained.

Danielle and Greg gained 112.02 points, only 1.56 away from bronze medallists Romona Elsener and Floran Roost from Switzerland and behind winners Lynn Kriengkrairut and Logan Giulietti-Schmidt from the USA with 139.70 points.
Skating a circus-themed free dance, the event announcer initially said Danielle and Greg were, “from this very country… Austria”, much to Greg’s amusement.

“That happens a lot,” Greg said with a laugh. “Maybe it’s weird that there is an Australian ice dance team on the world stage. We’ve had a great preparation and this is the first season we’ve taken on this many events, but we are ready for it now.”

In March this year, the couple made history when they placed 20th in the World Championships, becoming the first Australians to make the finals.

By Belinda Noonan
Courtesy: Burwood Scene

Australian Ice Dance Champions, Danielle O’Brien and Greg Merriman have finished in 20th place at the 2012 World Figure Skating Championships.

Along the way the AIS athletes made history in the Short Dance becoming the first Australian team to make the finals, achieving 20th place and scoring another PB by over five points.

The Short Dance performance, which earned Danielle and Greg 47.92 points, follows their stand-out performance in the qualifying round, which catapulted the Sydney couple into the best twenty-five ice dancers in the world with only twenty couples advancing to the final Free Dance.

With the top- ranked nine dancers still to compete, O’Brien and Merriman were happy to settle for 21st place, an achievement in itself after five years trying to break into the top 24, when the second French couple, who placed 7th in the European Championships last month, faltered and were placed below the Australians.

“It was history in the making,” said Australian Team Leader, Melina Simjanovic. “With only the top two groups left, we all knew there wasn’t much hope. Dan and Greg were happy with what they thought would be a 21st place. Dani even started planning what she would do tomorrow (sight see). Then the French team skated and had a few mishaps, but we thought they would still be scored above.”

“Then scores came up and 47 points were announced. Greg knew he and Dani also scored 47 but thought that theirs was in the low 47s and therefore would miss by the narrowest of margins. I turned to Dani to say you’re in. Suddenly we all realised they would make the top 20 and therefore, the finals,” Melina said. “Dani looked shell shocked and it took a while for the result to sink in to both of them.”

“They skated fantastically. We are all looking forward to seeing Dani and Greg at their absolute greatest to date in the Free Dance tomorrow. It’s a chance for them to perform, enjoy and have a blast.”

Building towards a successful 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics has been the long-term goal for the young couple, who moved to Bloomfields Michigan last September to train with Pasquale Carmerlengo and Anjelika Krylova. Danielle (from Strathfield) and Greg (from Canterbury) have given up family life to pursue their potential.

“We have more belief in ourselves now and it helps to be training in a team who are supportive and have a coaching staff who are supportive. We know we need to push ourselves and we have learned this through our training environment,” Danielle and Greg said after the event.

“This event has definitely been a turning point for us. It’s really nice to receive so many compliments and good wishes. Technically it wasn’t the strongest that we could do but we enjoyed it and are happy with whatever we did because we had qualified through to the short.”

“We produced the best short dance we have done this season and the scores showed it.”

Creating history was not on the their minds. “We knew we had potential to be good. Just didn’t know when we would be able to put it out there and make it happen,” they said.

In the final dance, Danielle and Greg remained in 20th place, recording a personal best overall score of 112.23 points.

Other Aussies in Action
Also representing Australia at the World Championship individual events were Brendan Kerry and his younger sister Chantelle who both made their World Championship debut.

In the preliminary rounds, Brendan placed 15th place in the men's skate with Chantelle finishing in 22nd in the women's event.

In the largest field ever contesting a world championship, Australia's five-time Ice Dance champions Danielle O'Brien and Gregory Merriman have placed 8th from twenty-three teams, qualifying for the Short Dance segment of 2012 World Figure Skating Championships.

Scoring a PB of 71.37 for their Free Dance, the Sydney couple broke into the main championship for the first time in five attempts, despite the heel of Greg’s boot splitting away in the last minute of their performance, requiring him to change feet for the final lifts in the program.

Australian Team Leader, Melina Simjanovic said their performance was mature and improved.

“Greg’s heel broke in last min of program and they kept going, which is amazing,” Melina said. “Overall they have improved so much and looking more mature. The work on the connection between each other and the audience has paid off, and their components marks show it. They are over the moon and so hyper. This result has already given them confidence and I think will be the turning point for them in their pathway to Olympic Winter Games.”

Danielle became aware something was amiss with Greg as they headed into the final section of the performance.

“Greg acknowledged to me with 45 seconds to go that something was wrong with his boot. I didn’t know what it was so told him to keep going as we went into the last lift. He did the lift on the other leg because he knew he wasn’t stable on the boot where the heel had broken. We saved the lift but the level was decreased because we did ¾ rotation instead of one rotation. It wasn’t until the end of the program when we got off that I realised just how bad his boot actually was,” Danielle recalled.

Greg, who is known as the laconic, laid back one in the team, took the mishap in his stride. “We are happy with this performance and it’s definitely an improvement from Four Continents last month. Technically didn’t bank all points we could have, but overall I feel it was the strongest this season and deserving of the PB, especially for the components. But I’ll go and get my boot fixed now,” Greg said.

With the world’s top fifteen contenders, including Vancouver Olympic Champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, earning direct entries to the final, it was left to the remaining twenty-three couples to battle for the ten places to compete in the Short Dance.

The Australians are relieved to be moving on. “As qualifying drew closer we became a lot more nervous thinking about getting over the hurdle of qualifying but we feel a lot more relaxed now, very prepared and have nothing to lose for the short. We can just go out and perform,” they said.

Danielle (22 from Strathfield) and Greg (24 from Canterbury) relocated to Bloomfields, Michigan USA in September last year to train full-time with Pasquale Camerlengo and Anjelika Krylova’s world-class stable of ice dancers to fulfil their dream of making the Australian Winter Olympic team for Sochi, 2014 after suffering the heartbreak of not qualifying for Vancouver when Greg became ill at the 2009 qualifying event.

Australian Ice Dance Champions, Danielle O’Brien (from Strathfield) and Greg Merriman (from Canterbury) competed in the Four Continents Championship in Colorado Springs, USA last weekend placing 9th, scoring a personal best 105.91 points. The title was won by current Canadian Olympic Champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir. 2011 World Champions, Meryl Davis and Charlie White from USA had to settle for the silver having led their training mates in the Short Dance the day before.

The talented duo, who missed out on the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, have relocated to Bloomfield Hills in USA to train with the successful coaching team of Pasquale Camerlengo and Anjelika Krylova in their bid to make the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Among their training partners are the third placed Americans and the top French couple who recently won the European Championship.

Danielle and Greg will return to their training base before heading off to the World Championships in Nice, France in late March.

In the men’s event, OWI athlete Brendan Kerry achieved Australia’s highest placing in 19th, with Ice Skating Australia (ISA) skaters Mark Webster 20th and Nicholas Fernandez 24th.

In the women’s event, ISA skater Chantelle Kerry finished in 17th place in her first Four Continents event with Zara Pasfield in 29th and Jaimee Nobbs 30th.

Article courtesy www.burwoodscene.com.au

Following the catastrophic Japanese earthquake and tsunami, the International Skating Union has postponed the running of the 2011 Figure Skating World Championships, originally scheduled to take in Tokyo on March 21-27.

The ISU issued the following statement:

"Taking into account the continued critical developments in Japan, the ISU's primary concern for the safety of all participants, spectators and members of concerned entities as well as the travel advisories from many governments to avoid travel to Japan until the situation is settled, the ISU in consultation and agreement with the Japan Skating Federation (JSF) and in line with the advise of the Japanese authorities, has concluded that the staging of the ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2011 scheduled to be held on March 21-27, 2011 is not possible and the Championships will not be held during that time. The postponement of the Event or alternatively the final cancellation is under evaluation."

"It is understood that a postponement of the above-mentioned World Championships is subject to the confirmation by the competent Japanese authorities that the situation is back to normal conditions allowing the safe conduct of major ISU sports Events in the Tokyo area."

The Australian team to compete in Tokyo includes:
Women - Cheltzie Lee
Men - Mark Webster
Ice Dance - Danielle O'Brien and Gregory Merriman

AIS figure skaters Cheltzie Lee, Danielle O'Brien and Gregory Merriman have all broken the top ten barrier at the Four Continents Championships in Taipei, which concluded this afternoon.

17-year-old Cheltzie Lee overcame nerves to break into the top ten at an ISU Championship for the first time, with an error free short program followed by a strong showing in the free scoring 127.90 points. Perth girl, Jamie Nobbs, whose parents represented Australia at the Olympics in Hockey, placed 19th.

Coach, Kylie Fennell, who was unable to travel to Taipei, is happy with Cheltzie's tenth place but says more work needs to be done.

"Breaking into the top ten at an ISU Championship has been Cheltzie's goal but it doesn't stop there. The past six months have been difficult with a flare up of an old back injury after the Olympics but it was the freak knee injury in August last year that really set her back," Fennell said.

"Saying that, the injury probably occurred at the best possible time as Cheltz needed to focus on her HSC studies. We now have four weeks to prepare for the World Championships and Cheltzie has higher level triples that she wants to incorporate into her programs. It was a matter of getting this first performance under her belt after one year away from competition of any sort."

The Four Continents Championship was Cheltzie's first event since the World Championships in March 2010 and prevented her from defending her national title last December.

Japan's Miki Ando easily won the event with a breath-taking short program and triple jump laden free performance amassing 201.34 points. The Silver went to compatriot, current World Champion and Olympic Silver medallist, Mao Asada. USA's Mirai Nagasu took the bronze.

The Men's title was won by defending champion Diasuke Takahashi. Australian Champion Mark Webster finished in 16th place, landing his first triple axel and a berth to the World Championships to be held in Tokyo in mid March. Australian youngster, Brendan Kerry finished in 18th.

Skating against Olympic and World Champions, ice dancers Danielle O'Brien and her partner Greg Merriman skated to a career best ninth place with a total of 104.69 points. The event was won by US Champions and Vancouver Olympic Silver medallists Meryl Davis and Charlie White.

Australia's team for the 2011 World Figure Skating Championships next month in Tokyo, Cheltzie Lee, Danielle O'Brien, Greg Merriman and Mark Webster all come from NSW, and are supported by the NSWIS as AIS/OWI Scholarship holders.

Cheltzie Lee has taken another step toward the ranks of the world's elite figure skaters, delivering a personal best score on her way to 17th place at the 2010 World Championships in Torino, Italy.

Just a month after finishing in 20th position at Vancouver 2010, Lee skated to a 17th placing in her short program, then followed up with a personal best score of 86.42 in her free program for 17th overall.

The Sydney 16-year-old's score of 137.78 points was just 0.38 below the personal best of 138.16 she had recorded in the Olympic competition.

"This result opens the door to the Grand Prix events for Cheltzie," said Olympic Winter Institute Figure Skating Coordinator Belinda Noonan.

"Her pb in the free program was great stuff. She's making small improvements all along the way."

Japanese skater Mao Asada won the ladies title with a consistent performance, finishing in second place in both the short and free programs for 197.58 points overall.

The Olympic silver medallist held off a challenge from Vancouver 2010 champion Yu-na Kim of Korea, who had been well back in seventh place after the short program, but rallied to take first place in the free program, collecting a total of 190.79 points for the silver medal.

Finnish skater Laura Lepisto took the bronze on 178.62 points.

Earlier in the championships, AIS duo Danielle O'Brien and Greg Merriman finished in 25th place in the ice dancing, while Mark Webster was 39th in the men's competition.