话说每次Michigan地区的skater有什么风吹草动他们都写得挺快……
U.S. men's figure skating champ moves to Detroit SC
http://www.freep.com/article/20090522/SPORTS17/90522049/1048/sports/U.S.+men+s+figure+skating+champ+moves+to+Detroit+SC
U.S. men’s figure skating champion Jeremy Abbott’s announcement today that he will be moving from Colorado Springs, Colo., to Bloomfield Hills to be coached by Yuka Sato at the Detroit Skating Club -- just nine months before the 2010 Vancouver Olympics -- is noteworthy on several fronts:
• 1. It gives instant coaching credibility to Sato, the 1994 ladies world gold medalist and daughter of Japanese coaching icon Nobuo Sato. Abbott told the Free Press today that he left Tom Zakrajsek, his coach of 10 years, to be Sato’s first full-time student because he “needed a change.”
“I went out to Detroit and worked with her for a week -- and just everything seemed to fit,” said Abbott, who placed a disappointing 11th at the world championships in March. “It’s a really good situation for me, and I feel that it will be very good for this season for me.”
• 2. It elevates the Detroit SC. Abbott will become the first U.S. men’s champ to train full-time at the storied club since Todd Eldredge won three of his six U.S. men’s titles while being coached there in the 1990s. The Detroit SC suffered a blow a few years ago when it lost world-renowned ice dance coaches Igor Shpilband and Marina Zoueva to the Arctic FSC in Canton. Abbott’s arrival could have a ripple effect and give the club’s ice dance program a boost.
• 3. And speaking of boosts, the biggest beneficiary of all might be Alissa Czisny, the reigning U.S. ladies champion who struggled mightily at worlds (11th). Having a world-class competitor -- underscore the word competitor -- in Abbott as a training partner could be the magic potion Czisny needs.
So for the first time in 12 years, the Detroit SC will have the two current American singles champs training under one roof. I was there when Eldredge helped inspire a tough-nosed jumping bean named Tara Lipinksi to the 1997 U.S. and world titles and 1998 Olympic gold medal.
Who knows? With Abbott and Czisny, maybe lighting can strike twice. |