Universal Sports To Air Coverage of 2010 World Figure Skating Championships

The World Figure Skating Championships get underway Wednesday in Turin, the site of the 2006 Winter Olympics. As NBC has the rights to the event, it can also show spillover coverage on Universal Sports and that’s exactly what it will do starting on Wednesday.

Universal Sports PRESENTS THE World Figure Skating Championships

NEWS, NOTES AND QUOTES FOR MARCH 23, 2010

Men’s Short Program Live at 11 A.M. ET on Wednesday

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif., March 23, 2010: Universal Sports’ live coverage of the World Figure Skating Championships from Torino, Italy, began today, March 23, with coverage of the Pairs Short Program, and will continue for the next four days. Olympian Johnny Weir will offer his perspectives from the Universal Sports live studio, joining a team consisting of play-by-play announcer Andrea Joyce, plus analysts Peter Carruthers, Michael Weiss, Tara Lipinski and the ice dancing duo of Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto. Former NBC Olympic researcher Lee Ann Gschwind will handle interviews and in-rink updates.

Below are highlights from today’s coverage.

TODAY ON UNIVERSAL SPORTS: PAIRS SHORT PROGRAM (4 – 5:30 P.M. ET):

NEWS UPDATE:

2010 Vancouver Olympic champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir of Canada scored 44.13 points during the compulsory dance and lead on the first day of Figure Skating Worlds. Olympic silver medalists Meryl Davis and Charlie White of the United States are in second place with 43.25 points, while Italian pair Federica Faiella and Massimo Scali of Italy are in third with 40.85 points. This could be the last compulsory segment in international ice dance competitions, as the International Skating Union will vote in June whether to eliminate the event, leaving just the original dance and free dance.

QUOTES FROM OUR COVERAGE:

On competing less than a month after the Olympic Winter Games:

Andrea Joyce, NBC Figure Skating Reporter: “I would imagine it would be a problem with a lot of the skaters at the World Championships, coming off the high of the Olympics and then, less than a month later, competing at the Worlds.”

Peter Carruthers, 1984 Olympic Pairs Figure Skating Silver Medalist: “You can look at it two ways: For those that nailed it at the Olympics and had their ‘moment,’ that’s great, but then they have to come here and get themselves back to that level. But, it can be redemption for those that had mistakes in their program at the Olympic Games.“

Joyce: “This is a tough field – the only team missing are the gold medalists from Vancouver are Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo.  You have both Russian teams skating much better than they did at the Olympic Games, as well as the American teams. The first World Championships after the Olympics are always so interesting, to see what people come with – either bringing it all, or if they are exhausted.”

 

Carruthers (on Chinese pair Dan Zhang and Hao Zhang): “Very solid, very athletic. Nothing has really come together for them at the most important times. When they skate their best, they are phenomenal to watch, because of the explosive power they have and the way they can sync up to the music.   They are looking for redemption for their Olympic performance (where they ended up fifth).”

Joyce (on the lack of a Russian Figure Skating Pair on the podium in Vancouver): “After the demise of the Soviet Union, all that state-funded sponsorship and development went away. Not just for figure skating, but all winter sports.”

Carruthers (on Chinese pair Qing Pang and Jian Tong, currently in first place): “The longer you are together as a pairs team, every single detail is recognized, and you can work and dissect every part.  When you haven’t had that mileage or the time, [the details] are not going to be in place. These two know each other really well, and they know their dynamic movement across the ice and it’s what makes them so solid.”

On the Compulsory Dance earlier today:

Carruthers: 
“One of the challenging aspects of the compulsory dance is to maintain a consistent flow across the ice and not slow down, while performing complicated changes of position and addressing the waltz itself, with good posture and carriage.”

Carruthers (on Canadian Ice Dance Pair Virtue and Moir): “They’ve kept the momentum from Vancouver, through to this golden waltz. Impressive speed, with very deep patterns – going in and out from the boards.  It’s hard to cover so much ice like they do. To be able to convey the true feeling of the waltz – brilliant!”

Tessa Virtue, to Universal Sports’ Lee Ann Gschwind (on taking the ice for the first time after winning the Ice Dancing Gold Medal at the Vancouver Olympics):  “We certainly had some confidence with the Olympic title under our belts, but we quickly forgot about that as soon as we returned to Michigan and got into our normal training routine.  It’s a new dance for us, and it felt good.”

Scott Moir (on why it was important to skate at the World Championships):  “It’s a huge event. It caps off the year. We’ve never been World Champions, and that’s a goal of ours’. It was always in the plan since Day 1, there was no question after the Olympics that we were be here.”

Joyce (on American Ice Dancers Merle Davis and Charlie White): “[The compulsory dance] is the part of the competition that Davis and White have really focused on, and made improvements. At the 2009 World Championships, it was the deficit in the compulsory dance that really cost them a spot on the podium. They came so close to the bronze medal, but it was the compulsory score that kept them off.”

Charlie White, to Universal Sports’ Lee Ann Gschwind (on whether a World Champion title was a motivator in Torino):  “Absolutely. We were just off the podium last year, we have an Olympic medal but not a World medal and it’s something we want to add to our repertoire.”

TOMORROW’S COVERAGE: MEN’S SHORT PROGRAM (11 A.M. – 12:30 P.M. ET), PAIRS FREE PROGRAM (3:30 – 5 P.M. ET):

World Championships Coverage on Universal Sports TV (All times are EDT):

Tuesday, March 23 – Pairs Short Program (re-air at 9 p.m.)

Wednesday, March 24 – Men’s Short Program (live at 11 a.m. and re-air at 8 p.m.) / Pairs Free Program (live at 3:30 p.m. and re-air at 11 p.m.)

Thursday, March 25 – Original Dance (live at 10 a.m. and re-air at 8 p.m.) / Men’s Free Program  (live at 4 p.m. and re-air at 11 p.m.)

Friday, March 26 – Ladies’ Short Program  (live at 11 a.m. and re-air at 8 p.m.) / Free Dance Program  (live at 4 p.m. and re-air at 11 p.m.)

Saturday, March 27 – Ladies’ Free Program (live at 10 a.m., re-airs at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m.)

Visit UniversalSports.com/tvschedule for additional times and re-airs.

I’ll post other press releases as we go along tonight.