Golden Spin of Zagreb 2013

Golden Spin of Zagreb, one of the most prestigious B skating competition in the fall season, will take place in the Croatian capital from 5th untill 8th of December. The competition that so often hosts high level, skaters this year lists some elite athletes, especially in the ladies event.

The Golden Spin will be in the spotlight of many fans as it has been chosen as the season-debuting competition by Yuna Kim, who has missed the entire grand prix season due to an injury had in September. It seems that the injury had been caused by over-training, so that the Korean Olympic champion had decided to avoid an early appereance on the international stage and opted for a competition schedule very similar to that that brought her to win Worlds last year. She will therefore debut her programs, Send in Clowns for the short and Adios Nonino by Piazzolla for the free skate. Taking place simultanously with the grand prix final, comparisons between her and the other female skaters competing in Fukuoka, Mao Asada above all, will be immediate.

Yuna Kim won't be the only elite skater in the ladies event, as Miki Ando and Elizaveta Tuktamisheva will be in Zagreb as well. Miki Ando, who will participate at Japanese Nationals in the next month, is slowly coming back to the competitive skating by attending several B competitions. She is not as solid as she used to be before 2011: she has competed at Nebelhorn Trophy, where she ranked second behind Radionova, and in Graaz last week where she was beated by Courtney Hicks. Her strategy seems to go in the direction of presenting a relatively simple jumping content in order to nail everything as planned.

Elizaveta Tuktamisheva is supposed to compete as well. Her fall season has been a rollercoaster due to phisical problems and she will need a good outing to build up her confidence towards the Olympic qualification at Russian Nationals.

In the men event, Michal Brezina is the frontrunner whose goal is to put together two clean performances with the quad salchow that seems to be starting to work.

SCHEDULE
5-8 dic
Thursday, 5th December
 17.30 short dance
 20.30 men short

Friday, 6th December
13.40 ladies short
16.45 pairs short
19.00 free dance

Saturday, 7th December
11.00 Men free skate
13.30 pairs free skate
15.10 ladies free skate