Nancy Kerriganhas joined Kenneth Field's production of Grease on Ice. She will be playing the role of Sandy. Thtour begins on November with the openning night being November 20th in Philadelphia.
Josef Sabovcik'sdivorce was finalized on September 24th in Salt Lake City from Canadian skater Tracy Wainman. He will have total custody of their son, Blade. Sabovcik will continue to live in Salt Lke City and girlfriend Jennifer Verilu will help raise his son.
2002 U.S. Figure Skating Championshipshave been awarded to Los Angeles. The last time the championships were held in Los Angeles was in 1954. The other cities awarded the championships are as followed: Salt Lake City 1999, Cleveland 2000, and Boston 2001.
The Grand Slam, a new skating competition, was held Septmember 25-27tth in Charleston, S.C. The competiton was ISU santioned and the top proze money was $40,000. The Final Results were:
Ladies:
1. Michelle Kwan
2. Maria Butyrskaya
3. Yuka Sato
4. Lu Chen
5. Nicole Bobek
6. Josee Chouinard
7. Irina Slutskaya
8. Caryn Kadavy
Men:
1. Todd Eldredge 
2. Ilia Kulik
3. Kurt Browning
4. Evegeny Plushenko
5. Victor Petrenko
6. Eric Millot
7. Scott Davis
8. Takeshi Honda
The Keri Lotion Figure Skating Classicwas also recently held October 3rd and 4th in Daytona, Florida. The winner for the ladies was Michelle Kwan (with a new short program to Carmen) and the winner for the men was Todd Eldredge (with a new short program to Cabaret). Others that competed were Timothy Goebel, Rudy Galindo, Victor Petrenko, Michael Weiss, Ilia Kulik, Nicole Bobek, Angela Nikodinov, Maria Butyrskaya, Surya Bonaly, and Elizabeth Manley. The event will air December 12th at 2:30pm on ABC.
The cast list for the Lake Placid Stars on Ice is out, and there are a few surprises. Probably the most surprising is the addition of the two newest Olympic gold medalist, Tara Lipinski and Ilia Kulik. While Tara has turned professional, Ilia is still undecided. Other new skaters to the list include Meno and Sand, Lu Chen, and Steven Cousins. Unfortunately, Paul Wylie is not on the list and has officially retired. Kurt Browning has also decided to take a break and only perform in the Canadian part of the tour. However, Roz Sumners, who was rumored to be retiring, has returned for another year. Scott Hamilton is also rumored to be skating on his final season, but he is still part of the cast one more year. Other skaters returning also include Katia Gordeeva, Kristi Yamaguchi, Roca and Sur, and Bechke and Petrov.
, Kurt Browning, Katia Gordeeva, Meno and Sand, Alexei Urmanov, Josee Chouinard, and others. Tickets are $20.
1. Todd Eldredge (USA)
2. Alexei Urmanov (Russia)
3. Michael Weiss (USA)
4. Timothy Goebel (USA)
6. Takeshi Honda (Japan)
7. Yevgeni Pliuta (Ukraine)
8. Yunfei Li (China)
9. Steven Cousins (Great Britain)
What a night for Todd Eldredge! He went above and beyond and proved that he could still compete against the young ones. His performance was flawless and left the crowd on their feet and screaming "6!". The other man who had the crowd pumped with 17 year old Timothy Goebel. He skated clean overall (pooping one jump) and landed the quad salchow! If he can improve on his artistry and speed he is definately one to watch in the future! It was also good to see Alexei back in top form. Welcome back Alexei!!! Overall, the competition was incredible and (in my opinion) the best of all the others.
Pairs
1. Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze (Russia)
2. Oksana Kazakova and Artur Dmitriev (Russia)
3. Dorota Zagorska and Martiusz Siedek (Poland)
4. Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao (China)
5. Kristy Sargeant and Kris Wirtz (Canada)
6. Sarah Abitbol and Stephane Bernadis (France)
7. Tiffany Stiegler and Johnnie Stiegler (USA)
It seemed that the ice was jinxed after one by one the pairs teams faltered. The Steiglers actually had the cleanest skate of the night (but that was unfortunately not aired on tv). The Russians made some surprising errors (even having unison trouble on thier spins). It seemes that Shen and Zhao would rise to the challenge, but they faltered at strange places as well. In the end, it was the couble that had the fewest mistakes that won.
Ice Dance
1. Anjelika Krylova and Oleg Ovsiannikov (Russia)
2. Irina Lobacheva and Llia Averbukh (Russia)
3. Elena Grushina and Rusian Goncharov (Ukraine)
4. Jessica Joseph and Charles Butler (USA)
Ice Dance was Ice Dance with nothing too thrilling occuring. It was nice to see Joseph and Butler get a warm reception and skate so well. Krylova and Ovsiannikov were their usual dramatic selves. In the end, the standings were no surprise.
Ladies
1. Michelle Kwan(USA)
2. Maria Butyrskaya( Russia)
3. Victoria Volchkova (Russia)
4. Angela Nikodinov (USA)
5. Irina Slutskaya (Russia)
6. Laetitia Hubert (France)
7. Elena Sokolova (Russia)
8. Anna Rechnio (Poland)
It was a night of bland skating, but even being less than perfect, Michelle still showed that she is the best. Missing one jump and doubling another, Michelle still had the artistry and maturity to win hands down. Butyrskaya had several mistakes and a dull performance but still somehow remained in second. Angela Nikodinov was the surprise of the night, impressing the crowd and the judges with her performance to the music of Cinderella. In my opinion, she should have been placed higher!
Tonia Kwiatkowski just got engaged to her boyfriend, David Ralls. David proposed on Friday July 24th while they were visiting New York for the Goodwill Games. Tonia plans on taking part in both the Elvis Tour and the Champions on Ice WInter Tour this year.
Ilia Kulik has decided to go Hollywood. He has left his coach Tatiana Tarasova and has bought a home in the Los Angeles area. He is currently undecided on what he will be doing in the future, but he is leaning on turning professional. His agent, Scott Henderson, at the William Morris Agency stated that he had "big plans" in store for Ilia.
