La Rhumba - not sure if you will pick up my post on the pro skating thread so thought I would ask you on another thread - do you have the dates for the World Championships ? I normally vaguely know and then remember on the Wednesday or Thursday - normally after the Pairs competition has finished !

Who will you be rooting for ?

I know this wasn't for me but the World Champs are in Tokyo, Japan. From March 19th until the 25th.

Thanks Sergeik - will make a note on my calendar not to miss any of it

Thanks for replying sergei, and thanks for your question Denise.

Because it's in Japan this year, most of the events will take place overnight for us in Europe, so not sure how Eurosport will arrange their coverage, whether live or delayed highlights?

But hopefully we'll get to see alot of it as promised. Though make sure to tune into the Pairs at the start of the week, as that will be a highlight this year, with the fabulous German Pair who won Euros, and the Chinese. I think the Germans could win!

Keep your eyes peeled for coverage of the Four Continents Championships starting tomorrow in Colorado Springs - that's the equivalent of Euros for the rest of the world, and it's been reported on the net that Eurosport are planning coverage....it's not listed, so maybe it's a last minute thing, or just being broadcast in some countries, not sure yet, but fingers crossed we get to see some of it in the UK.

Thanks LaRhumba

I'm looking forward to seeing Shen and Zhao, after they won the Asian Games I'd love to see them win one more Worlds before they retire. I know some people have said about them going onto 2010, but he's 34 so I think thats very unlikely and I think they've decided that this is the last year. I'd like to see Petrova and Tikhonov get something after all the years they seem to have not placed as highly as they should have, but I don't think they will win it. The German pair looks good and I also like the new US National Champs, Brooke and Ben (don't know their last names). They had a great Triple Twist, which I've never seen a USA pair have before, I've seen some awful ones from the American Pairs but never a good one with the massive height, so it was good to see.

O.K here's the schedule for you.

Tuesday 20 March, Compulsory Dance (Ice Dance) am
Tuesday 20 March, Technical Programme (Pairs) pm
Wed 21 March, Technical Programme (Men) am
Wed 21 March, Free Programme (Pairs) pm
Thurs 22 March Original Dance (Ice Dance) am
Thurs 22 March Free Programme (Men) pm
Friday 23 March Technical Programme (Ladies) am
Friday 23 March Free Dance (Ice Dance) pm
Saturday 24 March Free Programme (Ladies) pm
Sunday 25 March Exhibition Gala

Tips for the title.

Pairs, can't look past Shen/Zhao
Men, Brian Joubert must be favourite
Women, Would love to see Mao Asada win
Ice Dance, Prefer Delobel/Schoenfelder to win

Next year, Europeans in Zagreb and Worlds in Gothenburg

Hope that helps

Just been following the 4CCs Golden Waltz online, no TV coverage live, results available here:

http://www.isufs.org/results/fc2007/

News from a friend in Amsterdam:

According to our teletekst the CC4 will be on
Eurosport Thursday 18.45 and Saturday 19.00, I suppose
this is GMT

I think this will be on Eurosport International only, but check British ES JIC.

Thanks very much - brilliant

Are Shen and Zhao the pair where the lady fell badlylast year on a throw and then skated to gold I think ?
Haven't seen Mao Asada yet.
Would like Delobel and Schoenfelder to win too.

The lady who feel was Dan Zhang from Zhang/Zhang, and they skated to Silver. Shen and Zhao already have 2 World Titles but I'd love to see them get another, it might be the sweetest one after his injury and coming back and beating the other Chinesse pairs who are supposedly ''younger and stronger'' shows sometimes there is nothing like experience.

The Tango Original Dance is going to be shown on British Eurosport at 7.55pm tonight [Thursday] from 4CCs.

Mao Asada is the latest in a line of Japanese lady skaters to come through. She's tiny and about sixteen but can she jump brilliantly, plus she has that sort of bubbly personality you can't help but warm to.

She's got a lot to live up to, Midori Ito won Japan's first gold for the ladies title in Paris in 1989, since then they've had medals from Yuka Sato, Fumie Segurie and of course the reigning Olympic champion Shizuoka Arikawa

I look forward to seeing her then - I remember Shizuoka Arikawa - she was lovely

I liked Arakawa as well, amid all the ballyhoo at the Turin Olympics with Sasha Cohen, Emily Hughes and Kim Meissner she produced the best performance. She had the technical ability and artistically she was good

Tune into Eurosport early, as it could be 6.55pm UK Time, and an hour later for CET, for tonight's OD.

Absolutely

Tango Original Dance at Four Continents on Eurosport.

Winners for me in the Tango OD were Virtue & Moir with Davis & White 2nd, the top 2 were disappointing - D&L technically with Marie-France slipping, and a tentative performance from both after the initial strong opening, and Ben Agosto just did not capture the male lead character of a Tango for me, whilst Tanith caught her dress with her blade in the twizzles and ripped the material. Lots of changes of position after the OD though, so don't say there's no movement in Dance!

Eeek! Poor Australians, already 20 points behind the next couple....

Results: http://www.isufs.org/results/fc2007/SEG007.HTM

To add a few more comments after watching live on Eurosport - we got all the top 8 live, and 3 of the remaining 4 from the first group during the Zamboni break, with just the last placed Aussies missing - it didn't really grip me till Virtue & Moir took to the ice.

Best male today was definitely Scott Moir, a very mature performance with real Tango character to rival the top 3 at Europeans, great posture aswell, and looked the part in the costume. Their choreography was the best tonight, simple in parts, particularly in the Diagonal Step Sequence, where it was mostly in Kilian Hold, but for a debut season at Seniors these 2 are stunning. Their skating and presentation has a serene quality to it, yet very passionate and beautiful.

Davis & White were technically very good, his twizzles were AMAZING!!! Soooo fast and precise, the quickest I've ever seen, they were fearless and confident, as befitting of these younger couples steeped in the required elements for the majority of their competitive careers. They also had very interpretive choreo and were a bit unlucky to be scored so far behind V&M, but it was not as mature a performance, so I could see where the Judges were coming from there.

Big disappointment was the top 2. First B&A, if the dress was new, then Tanith should've tried it out somehow first before competing, with the long length of material, which was visibly hanging after it caught in her blade and ripped. What was Ben wearing??? He looked like a middle aged merchant seaman on shore leave, with a double breated jacket with shiny buttons......? Very strange, and a marked contrast [not a favourable one ] with the Haute Couture look of the Men's csotumes in Warsaw for DomShabs and DelSchoes. Neither B&A nor D&L matched anything seen at Euros, either technically or artistically IMO. Ben, who is constantly praised over Tanith, at no point captured the essence of the required haughty Tango character and male dominance, and I wasn't thrilled by their Dance, their look, or their skating overall, it was good in parts, with a nice combo spin, and individual elements.

D&L started soooo well, striking a beautiful pose seperately, but maybe due to Marie-France's recent illness and a lack of physical conditioning at altitude, the performance really tapered off into nothing....it was a toss up who would win? I still thought that D&L had the better interpretation and character, but probably too many errors technically to stay ahead, but let's hope they can both improve in the FD, as on this showing, the top Europeans have not much to fear from these two couples.

Lower down, I felt that both Senft & Ghislason and Navarro & Bommentre were slightly overscored, especially for PCS. They both skated well, but are nothing special technically [compared to V&M and D&W] and I didn't see much flair or elan so far, accepted they're relatively new. To me neither couple would trouble the top 15 at Worlds.

I very much enjoyed seeing the Reeds from japan, a surprisingly tall couple, and most definitely of Japanese origins, clear in their appearance. They were dancing the Tango well until she had a fall in the step sequence and took an age to recover, however I already prefer them to the Japanese No.1s, and they will be an added boost on the world scene, and a loss to America's ranks. Nice to see former Brit, Matthew Gates with them as Coach.

Eurosport Schedule for Saturday's events:
http://www.eurosport.co.uk/tvschedule_clng2_day2.shtml

Eurosport CET Times [-1 hour for UK]

Sat
20.00 Dance LP (taped)
20.30 Men LP (taped)
21.00 Pairs LP (taped)
21.30 Ladies SP (taped)
22.00 - 23.30 Ladies LP Live

Clashes with DOI, but thankfully DOI is repeated several times this year.

Result Details of all events: http://www.isufs.org/results/fc2007/index.htm

It isn't listed under Eurosport in the Radio Times but thanks for the notes and schedules