The fifth GP event is this weekend - Skate America!

http://www.skateamerica2009.com/

http://www.isuresults.com/events/fsevent00011091.htm

Sasha Cohen is out of SA. She has being diagnosed with tendonitis in her right calf.


____________
Izadora

Here's the IceNetwork article confirming Sasha's withdrawal:
http://web.icenetwork.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20091109&content_id=7639734&vkey=ice_pressrelease

Second article, from USFSA, with nearly the same detail but naming Emily Huges as her replacement.
http://www.usfigureskating.org/Story.asp?id=43804

Quite honestly, I'm not surprised, at all. I had a gut feeling something would happed with her to cause her to pull out. Apparently the injury to her right calf is not healing as well as she had hoped. I guess we'll have to wait and see if she can beat this injury to compete at US Nationals.

Mary C.

I'm not surprised that Sasha is out, but I am glad that Emily is her replacement.

Oh I would sooo love to go there. I need to find a job in the US
If anyone knows a live stream, let me know!

I'm really very sad for Sasha... Actually I'm not suprised because of that withdrawing... But I'm so sorry because, first of all, she has an injury... And it can make me sad enough. I hope she will be healthier soon.

Sometimes I think about that if Sasha won't be able to compete in Olympics, again. If it's a wrong decision to come back to compete in Olympics... And unfortunately, maybe, this is a wrong decision.

And first of all, I hope she will be healthier soon... It doesn't matter anymore to compete in Olympics... I just want her to be healthier again.

And this is the article about that withdrawing from her official web site. (Actually it's same with other articles)

http://www.sashacohen.com/news.shtml

I was really looking forward to see Sasha competing again. I hope she will be eventually at the Olympics but as the days go it seems more and more unlikely. Do you think she will have enough motivation to try for example compete in Worlds 2010 or 2011 if she gets healthy again?

I have to agree with Sheena on the likelihood that Sasha would return to do Worlds in 2010 or 2011. I don't think there's really a point in doing that and I can't imagine Sasha does, either.

There is some interesting discussion at FSU (sorry, I don't have the time to search for the link to it; it's in the thread, there, about her withdrawal) regarding a probable reason for her current injury. Apparently there is some research which suggest that older skaters(and athletes who do other kinds of sports which need flexibility as a component), who have always been very flexible with their muscles and tendons, tend to develop chronic problems in those areas. Sasha's amazing ability to do biehlmans and that candle split (where she extends her straightened leg upward and holds it to her chest) sets her up for future chronic injury. Note, it's not the fact that she can perform these feats of flexibilty, it's the fact that she has developed her muscles and their flexibility to the extreme and, over years of training this way, it sets her up for future injury to the ligaments and joints. So, it's no real surprise that Sasha's musculature is having serious problems. There is also a mention in that FSU thread that she had consulted an orthopedic specialist.

With this injury situation I cannot see that it would be likely she would want to risk dibilitating damage to her joints any more than is necessary. Figure skating has already taken its toll on her, injury wise. She has to keep in mind that there aren't too many movie roles for wheelchair using former skaters who turned to acting.

As to why she even considered returning to competitive sport for a shot at the Olympics is anyone's guess. Perhaps her acting career is not developing fast enough for her. Perhaps she doesn't feel that she's reached whatever personal goals she set for herself in regard to the sport. She may feel that her last chance to see what she can do will be extinguised with the Olympic flame. Besides, she'd be way too old to have the stanima and drive to go after the 2014 Olympics.

Mary C.

Oh, yes, that's true. I understand it. So it means, her extreme flexibility is causing some serious problems now :/ And it's not an unexpected situation...

And I agree with both of you too... I also think that this is the last chance for her to see what she really can do in Olympics. I think, she wants to win the gold this time. But this looks very hard to win against these very strong skaters.

By the way, you know, she was skating great at SP, but then she was not skating very well in FP to win the gold, in genaral. If she could skate very well in FP in 2006 Olympics, she could win the gold as well. And, unfortunately, I don't think that she could do it in 2010 Olympics. Moreover she didn't compete in international competitions for 3 seasons and she has an injury now... So it looks really hard to win the Olympics gold...

Caitlin MALLORY / Kristjan RAND EST

2 Zoe BLANC / Pierre-Loup BOUQUET FRA

3 Xiaoyang YU / Chen WANG CHN

4 Kimberly NAVARRO / Brent BOMMENTRE USA

5 Kristina GORSHKOVA / Vitali BUTIKOV RUS

Warm-Up Group 2
6 Madison CHOCK / Greg ZUERLEIN USA

7 Anna CAPPELLINI / Luca LANOTTE ITA

8 Alexandra ZARETSKI / Roman ZARETSKI ISR

9 Jana KHOKHLOVA / Sergei NOVITSKI RUS

10 Tanith BELBIN / Benjamin AGOSTO USA

1 Xue Shen / Hongbo Zhao CHN

2 Brooke CASTILLE / Benjamin OKOLSKI Etats-Unis

3 Amanda EVORA / Mark LADWIG Etats-Unis

4 Stacey KEMP / David KING GBR

Warm-Up Group 2
5 Keauna McLaughlin / Rockne Brubaker Etats-Unis

6 Meagan Duhamel et Craig Buntin CAN

7 Tatiana Volosozhar / Stanislav Morozov UKR

8 Dan Zhang / Hao Zhang CHN


1 Igor MACYPURA SVK

2 Andrei LUTAI RUS

3 Jialiang WU CHN

4 Ryan BRADLEY USA

5 Shawn SAWYER CAN

6 Yasuharu NANRI JPN

Warm-Up Group 2
7 Florent AMODIO FRA

8 Adrian SCHULTHEISS SWE

9 Kevin REYNOLDS CAN

10 Brandon MROZ USA

11 Evan LYSACEK USA

12 Tomas VERNER CZE

http://www.isuresults.com/results/gpusa09/index.htm

Compulsory dance Results :


1 Tanith BELBIN / Benjamin AGOSTO USA 39.28 20.22 19.06 7.65 7.45 7.80 7.65 0.00 #10
2 Jana KHOKHLOVA / Sergei NOVITSKI RUS 36.94 18.96 17.98 7.25 7.05 7.30 7.20 0.00 #9
3 Anna CAPPELLINI / Luca LANOTTE ITA 32.04 15.90 16.14 6.50 6.30 6.55 6.50 0.00 #7
4 Alexandra ZARETSKI / Roman ZARETSKI ISR 31.93 16.28 15.65 6.40 6.00 6.40 6.30 0.00 #8
5 Kimberly NAVARRO / Brent BOMMENTRE USA 30.19 16.10 14.09 5.75 5.40 5.65 5.80 0.00 #4
6 Kristina GORSHKOVA / Vitali BUTIKOV RUS 29.32 14.92 14.40 5.85 5.55 5.90 5.80 0.00 #5
7 Madison CHOCK / Greg ZUERLEIN USA 28.88 14.96 13.92 5.70 5.45 5.60 5.50 0.00 #6
8 Xiaoyang YU / Chen WANG CHN 27.43 14.96 12.47 5.20 4.75 5.05 4.95 0.00 #3
9 Caitlin MALLORY / Kristjan RAND EST 26.89 14.46 12.43 5.20 4.60 5.05 5.10 0.00 #1
10 Zoe BLANC / Pierre-Loup BOUQUET FRA 24.39 12.78 11.61 4.80 4.40 4.75 4.65 0.00 #2

Ice Dance

Result (CD)

FPl. Name Nation Points CD OD FD
1 Tanith BELBIN / Benjamin AGOSTO USA
39.28 1
2 Jana KHOKHLOVA / Sergei NOVITSKI RUS
36.94 2
3 Anna CAPPELLINI / Luca LANOTTE ITA
32.04 3
4 Alexandra ZARETSKI / Roman ZARETSKI ISR
31.93 4
5 Kimberly NAVARRO / Brent BOMMENTRE USA
30.19 5
6 Kristina GORSHKOVA / Vitali BUTIKOV RUS
29.32 6
7 Madison CHOCK / Greg ZUERLEIN USA
28.88 7
8 Xiaoyang YU / Chen WANG CHN
27.43 8
9 Caitlin MALLORY / Kristjan RAND EST
26.89 9
10 Zoe BLANC / Pierre-Loup BOUQUET FRA
24.39 10



Pairs

Result (sp)

FPl. Name Nation Points SP FS
1 Xue SHEN / Hongbo ZHAO CHN
74.36 1
2 Tatiana VOLOSOZHAR / Stanislav MOROZOV UKR
61.70 2
3 Meagan DUHAMEL / Craig BUNTIN CAN
59.64 3
4 Keauna MCLAUGHLIN / Rockne BRUBAKER USA
58.54 4
5 Dan ZHANG / Hao ZHANG CHN
56.84 5
6 Amanda EVORA / Mark LADWIG USA
50.14 6
7 Brooke CASTILE / Benjamin OKOLSKI USA
49.52 7
8 Stacey KEMP / David KING GBR
43.46 8