Here is when you can catch the Four Continents Championship on television.

First run only, times all eastern.

Thursday, February 9

Universal Sports: 10pm-12am (Men's short program, live)

Friday, February 10

Universal Sports: 5:30pm-7:30pm (ladies short program, live)

Universal Sports: 11pm-1am (Men's free skate, live)

Saturday, February 11

Universal Sports: 4pm-5pm (pairs short program, live)

Universal Sports: 7pm-8pm (ice dance short dance, live)

Universal Sports: 11pm-1am (ladies free skate, live)

Sunday, February 12

Universal Sports: 3pm-4:30pm (pairs free skate, live)

Universal Sports: 5:30pm-7:30pm (ice dance free dance, live)

UPDATED: Apologies for post errors. I am obviously living in the past.

Competition starts tomorrow at the Four Continents Championships in Colorado Springs. Here's a look at the field. Sometimes the top contenders hold back from 4CC (as its known) but this year there is definitely a lot to look forward to.

Men

Obviously you have to heavily favor Canada's reigning world champion Patrick Chan, as he is favored in every competition he'll enter this season. I'm sure he'll land a couple of quads and rack up those presentation points. But, if there was a time for him to falter, it would be now, to get it out of his system before world championships next month.

The truer test here is to see whether Daisuke Takahashi can put together two strong programs and even land a quad, so he can become competitive with Chan once again. And don't forget Takahiko Kozuka, who has had a terrible season but should not be disregarded as a medal threat. <---No idea where I got Kozuka from since he is not on the entry list. Apologies.

Song Nan will be here from China and he's made his mark this season with his quads and medal-winning showings in his Grand Prix events. He might be able to make it on the podium here as well.

America's Adam Rippon won this event in 2010 but only came in fifth last season. He is definitely a contender for a medal here, though. Richard Dornbush received a bit of a gift with this placement so let's see if he can make the most of it. And although Ross Miner won the bronze at NHK Trophy, I would be surprised to see him able to medal here.

1) Chan (Canada)

2) Takahashi (Japan)

3) Rippon (USA)

Pairs

China's strongest skaters are not competing here which really opens things up for North American teams. However, they will have to deal with Sui and Han and Japan's Takahashi and Tran if they want to get on that podium. I think Canada's Duhamel and Radford have a strong medal chance. And if America's Denney and Coughlin (originally stated Barrett sorry!! I was obviously half asleep or something when I wrote this. Blergh) skate their free skate like they did at the US Nationals, they might have the podium in their sights as well.

Prediction

1) Duhamel and Radford (Canada)

2) Takahashi and Tran (Japan)

3) Denney and Coughlin (USA)

Ice Dance

Davis and White versus Virtue and Moir for the gold. Weaver and Poje versus Shibutani and Shibutani for the bronze. Not much else to worry about here, and I have no idea who to give the edge to. I think Davis and White have looked stronger but Virtue and Moir were no doubt annoyed they lost the Grand Prix Final and will come out charging. And I think I give the edge to Weaver and Poje as far as the bronze medal. They have been strong this season and the Shibutanis have been up and down.

Prediction

1) Virtue and Moir (Canada)

2) Davis and White (USA)

3) Weaver and Poje (Canada)

Ladies

Mao Asada needs to win this. She needs to have that momentum propel her into worlds so that she can challenge Carolina Kostner, who seems headed toward her first world championship this season. Asada has been doing fine - and fine tends to be good enough in ladies skating.

I will definitely have my eye on Ashley Wagner of the USA. It's her first competition as US National champion and I will be interested in how she fares. It might give us an idea of whether we should bother hoping that the US can get back three slots at the world championships in this year's competition. I don't expect too much from Agnes Zawadzki, who can't seem to stand up in her free skates, but maybe she can somehow leap onto the podium if she does land those awesome jumps. And then there is Caroline Zhang, who may very well be happy just to be here at this point. How far she has come! But this is a very weak field, and any of these ladies have a shot at a medal.

And don't forget the other Japanese ladies, Kanako Murakami and Haruka Imai. They've had disappointing seasons but there are obvious medal chances here.

Prediction

1) Asada (Japan)

2) Wagner (USA)

3) Zawadzki (USA)

Evgeny Plushenko has already ruled out competing at the world championships because he was in need of another knee surgery. He has set the date for that surgery as Feb. 23.

According to ESPN:

He announced his plans for surgery on Twitter. He had already ruled himself out of the world championships that begin March 25 in Nice, France, so he can recover from the surgery.

Plushenko returned last year from a suspension imposed by the International Skating Union in June 2010 for taking part in exhibitions without approval of the governing body.

Sorry for the delay on this. Jeremy Abbott has withdrawn from the Four Continents Championship due to back spasms that are now affecting his hip. And now, cue American skating fans shaking in their boots at the thought that Abbott will not be able to get better in time for worlds. Coach Yuka Sato said the injury should not affect his ability to compete at worlds.

From the Detroit Free Press article:

"Thankfully, it's not a major injury -- his back sort of spasmed up a bit," Sato said Friday night. "I think it's from a stressful couple of weeks. We don't think it's the smartest thing to push him and make him skate in Colorado Springs. We should rest his back and get him ready for worlds."

Abbott will be replaced by Richard Dornbush, although Dornbush finished 13th at the recent national championships. I guess USFSA still thinks Dornbush has some international potential and wants to support that.

US Figure Skating named its World Championships and Four Continents teams yesterday.

World Championships:
Men: Jeremy Abbott, Adam Rippon
Pairs: Caydee Denney and John Coughlin, Mary Beth Marley and Rockne Brubaker
Women: Alissa Czisny, Ashley Wagner
Ice Dancing: Meryl Davis and Charlie White, Madison Hubbell and Zach Donohue, Maia Shibutani and Alex Shibutani

Four Continents Championship
Men: Jeremy Abbott, Ross Miner, Adam Rippon
Pairs: Caydee Denney and John Coughlin, Amanda Evora and Mark Ladwig, Mary Beth Marley and Rockne Brubaker
Women: Ashley Wagner, Caroline Zhang, Agnes Zawadzski
Ice Dancing: Meryl Davis and Charlie White, Madison Hubbell and Zach Donohue, Maia Shibutani and Alex Shibutani

World Junior Championships
Men: Jason Brown, Timothy Dolensky, Joshua Farris
Pairs: Haven Denney and Brandon Frazier, Kylie Duarte and Colin Grafton, Britney Simpson and Matthew Blackmer
Women: Christina Gao, Gracie Gold, Vanessa Lam
Ice Dancing: Alexandra Aldridge and Daniel Eaton, Lauri Bonacorsi and Travis Mager, Rachel Parsons and Michael Parsons

The only top skater not headed to Four Continents is Alissa Czisny, which I assume might have been her choice. I am happy to see all of the other skaters going though, because everyone (Czisny included) truly needs as much time in front of those international judges as they can get.

Johnny Weir interview in which he says his comeback is very serious. He says he's ready to work on the quad but he's coming back for the people who support him. He says maybe his chance has passed but he's ready to bring his sexy back to figure skating. Podium prediction: Abbott/Rippon.

Jason Brown: He starts in seventh place. Apparently he had a rough warmup. He has such a lovely tano lutz. Bezic is comparing Brown with Patrick Chan, who learned to skate beautifully before he learned the quad and other tough jumps (Because Brown has yet to master the triple axel). Not a bad skater to be compared with, I suppose. Brown really is a beautiful skater. He had a triple/triple comb in the second half. He is solid on all of these jumps so far. Get that triple axel, Jason! And then - get that quad! Ugh. Right when Bezic starts complimenting his edges he stumbles. Sad! And then he stumbles out of a triple salchow, so he must be flustered. He will have to learn how to shake it off. Two-foots the triple loop. This is too bad, I was enjoying it so much. AAAnd a fall. So there goes that lovely performance with all the sloppiness at the end. 133.48 for the free, total of 209.16. First place for now.

Douglas Razzano: Triple axel! Double toe instead of quad. regroups pretty quickly. I feel like he always wears gloves. Is that true? I have never really gotten onboard the glove train. This program is not keeping my attention. He is landing all these jumps (including his triple triple) very well and he has a beautiful spread eagle into triple salchow. So he is winning me over, gloves and all. Nice job, Razzano! Bezic says he is a subtle skater with pure technique. And not a lot of bravado, heh...so how neanderthal am I that I was bored earlier...heee. 150.88 in the free and 223.38 overall, he is now in first place.

Stephen Carriere: He has been away from the ice due to injury. That was a nice triple axel...Hamilton calls it a gigantic improvement. I am liking the attach Carriere has in the program. Argh, tough fall on the second triple axel, but everything else is still going well. 141.59 for the free, 213.41 overall. Second place for now.

Pretty sure they just bleeped out the word "pissed" from Jeremy Abbott's fluff. Weird. I mean, I think they wanted to bleep it because it was edgy. HA.

They are interspersing Adam and Jeremy fluff. It's hard to listen to these two talk about being tough. I mean, they are not tough-sounding. It's impossible for them to sound intimidating.

Max Aaron: Wow. Tries the quad salchow, out of control, crashes into the boards. But wow! Too bad. I hope it doesn't affect the whole performance. Triple axel he holds onto but it's forward. He has a breather section in here, which means it's kind of boring. This program is terrible. But I'm sure there will be plenty of jumps here. He did another triple axel but no combo. Falls on triple flip and no combo obviously. Despite the amazingness of doing a quad salchow (though he fell here), the program is very junior to me. 211.15 total.

Ross Miner: I like this program. I hope I like it today. Lovely, lovely triple axel. And a second triple axel that he falls on. Uh oh. But he snaps back with a triple lutz/triple toe. His pants strap is undone. I hope that doesn't affect his skating... Bezic said it shouldn't affect performance. Nice footwork here. Doesn't seem like the strap is hurting him. This is a great recovery for Miner, just wish he hasn't blown the triple axel that was supposed to be in combination. Not a flashy program and not a flashy skater, but he has a nice quality that I appreciate. He just kind of stumbled on footwork at the end, oy, will he get a deduction? I don't know. He looks tired at the end here. 151.42 for the free skate, 230.32 overall. First place for now.

Keegan Messing: Messing is not necessarily my style of skater...I think, as Hamilton says if you're looking for high art, you've come to the wrong place. heh. But he is fun to watch with his explosiveness. But he triples the quad toe..still lands fine. He is truly adorable and enjoys working the crowd. Hands down on his second triple axel with no combo. But way to save the jump. But now he's having trouble controlling the jumps and he is kind of running out of speed. 212.47 total, fourth place for now.

Armin Mahbanoozadeh: How happy am I to see him in medal contention right now? He is such a great skater. Ack! couldn't make it on the quad toe. Sad. And now, let's see his recovery. He lands his net few jumps including the triple axel but not everything is looking flawless. He stumbles out of second triple axel. I don't love this program and I hate that because Armin keeps picking program music that I don't love, even though I love his skating so. Nice speed and energy here at the end. 143.97 for the free, 224.63, second place for now behind Miner. Miner is guaranteed the bronze medal (which he also won last season. But maybe it will be higher? We shall see!).

Adam Rippon: And here we have Mr. Rippon and his hair. I am kind of nervous! Now is the time, Rippon! Keep it together! Doubles a salchow off the top instead of doing a quad. Not a look of confidence. Very little speed there but he lands the triple axel but weird landings all around. Gets it back with a triple loop. YAy on the second triple axel! woo. He is gutting these jumps out at the end, does a beautiful Rippon lutz though. And some nice spins, the crowd is into it. Great footwork and one final double axel. I don't think this is a national championship winning program but I do think he will likely place ahead of Miner. 157.93 for free and 240.87. he will definitely wiin at least a silver and be on the world team. yay for Rippon!

Jeremy Abbott: Absolutely no one has put the pressure on Abbott, so let's hope he turns in something monumental. Whoa, ok, I'm back. I just allowed myself to be enveloped in the Jeremy Abbott experience. No, it wasn't perfect. Well, the quad toe was perfect. Some landings were off. There were a couple of doubles where I would have liked triples. But I don't care. It was superb, splendiferous, amazing. He is beautiful. And he will be national champ one more time. 183.35 for the free. WOW. 273.58. Just obliterated his own record. Oh yeah, and he won.

Your podium:

1) Jeremy Abbott

2) Adam Rippon

3) Ross Miner

Hmm...can Abbott and Rippon get us back three spots at next year's worlds? To be continued!

Here is my take on the pairs free skate final group as aired on NBC.

Castelli and Shnapir: These two have so much sloppiness about their skating, just legs not really in unison or together or that sort of thing. But their throws are so impressive and gigantic. They had so many jumping difficulties (well, mostly he did), but as Scott Hamilton pointed out, he is essentially a giant at 6.4, so it's very difficult to jump. It's unfortunate. 108.25 for free, 168.81 overall. They end up in fifth place.

Denney and Coughlin: Phenomenal. If I wasn't buying in to this pair before the free skate, I am now. I really admire people who come out and attack programs the way these two did today. They aren't the prettiest or most elegant but everything was amazing (with the sliiiight exception of some out of unison side by side jumps at the beginning). They were rock solid (shades of the old Denney and Barrett!) and had so much energy and fire. Of course they won after that program and they deserved it. They still won't be able to truly compete with the rest of the world just due to content and choreography but that doesn't take anything away from today's glorious showing.

Evora and Ladwig: Sandra Bezic keeps talking about how they don't have that killer instinct and I suppose that's true. Maybe they are just not great competitors. At one point, Bezic just says Evora is just too nice. That's crap. You can be nice and still be a fierce competitor. They keep making little mistakes, on jumps and the throw jump landing. It just takes the wind out of the program. The lifts are so ridiculous though. Ridiculously amazing. This was not a good enough performance, though. Bezic points out that it truly is the superior choreography and more complete program here today, but that doesn't matter if you can't execute. 117.71 for free, 178.98 overall. They end up with bronze.

Marley and Brubaker: Bezic talks at the beginning that you don't know what Marley is going to be like under this pressure which makes it hilarious when Brubaker tanks the opening jump. And THEN Bezic says that that often happens when one partner is concerned about another. UM, he is the one who fell, not her. Maybe he can worry about himself. He almost screws up the second jump, to which Hamilton says maybe he was too aggressive. These two love them some Brubaker! Meanwhile, they really do just start to pick up energy midway through (helped by the music) and it's really a joy to watch. She is solid on the first throw and holds onto the last one..they're so happy. They still need a lot of work on lifts and other fundamentals and that sort of thing, but a very promising start. The judges take a long time probably figuring out whether to place them in second or third, but they win out today and they get the silver medal and a worlds berth. Free skate score: 120.27, 186.07 overall. That's actually quite close to winning the whole thing, wowee!

Your podium

1) Denney and Coughlin

2) Marley and Brubaker

3) Evora and Ladwig

The European Championships have concluded in Sheffield, UK. Despite needing surgery, Evgeny Plushenko was victorious once again, throwing a quad into his free skate and winning the competition with a personal-best score. He was miles ahead of silver medalist and fellow Russian Artur Gachinski. France's Florent Amodio won the bronze.

Italy's Carolina Kostner was even more dominant in the ladies competition, winning by almost 20 points. Finland's Kiira Korpi came in second and Elene Gedevanishvili of Georgia was the bronze medalist. I think Carolina Kostner is becoming the prohibitive favorite for world gold.

In pairs, Russia swept the podium, but Volosozhar and Trankov had little competition from silver medalists Bazarova and Larionov. Newish names Stolbova and Klimov were able to climb up for the bronze.

And finally, in ice dancing, France's Pechalat and Bourzat dominated the free skate to beat Bobrova and Soloviev for the gold. Russia's Ilinykh and Katsalapov just edged out Italy's Cappellini and Lanotte to win the bronze.

Full results after the jump...

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