Best Figure Skating Performances of Alissa Czisny

Best Skates of the 2009 U.S. Ladies Champion

Amanda Cartwright, Yahoo! Contributor Network
Jan 7, 2010 "Share your voice on Yahoo! websites. Start Here."

As the 2010 Winter Olympics draws near, reigning U.S. figure skating champion Alissa Czisny appears to have her eye on landing that same title again this year, earning a trip to the 2010 Olympics and the much-covered figure skating gold medalist. If she's able to do that, she would be the first American woman to do so since Sarah Hughes. Czisny has competed more this summer and she's managed to do so with little injury. She's also made some coaching changes, including the addition of Brian Boitano. Will this be enough to calm Czisny's nerves before Vancouver? Only time will tell. Czisny's been on the national stage for almost 10 years, but she's been plagued by inconsistencies and lackluster performances during her most important ice skating meets.

Czisny has given ice skating fans some very memorable performances. As a prelude to the Olympics, here are what I judge to be her very best skates.

1. Czisny finally earned the title "champion" in 2009 at the U.S. Ladies National Championship. This is Alissa Czisny at her very best. From her first triple to her last layback, she skates a great performance. As one of the comments on this YouTube video notes, if she skated like this every time, she would be unbeatable. Perhaps more than anything else, this performance shows her maturity and grace.
2009 National's Short Program

2. Czisny's short program performance at the 2009 World's was a bit disappointing. Once again, it seemed she caved into pressure when it became too great. The reigning U.S. championship found herself in 14th place after the short program. Two days later, Czisny surprised her critics by delivering a near-perfect long program. Czisny's excellent technical and artistic scores leave fans wondering "what if" as to her consistency. If Czisny's nerves had been a little steadier during her short program, she may have well found herself atop the podium.
2009 World's Long Program

3. So, how's Alissa Czisny skating now? Here's an excellent performance from earlier this year at Skate America. Check out the lines and those beautiful spins.
2009 Skate America Short Program

4. Here's a rare but excellent clip of Czisny performing outside of competion on Dec. 19, 2009. This appears to be just a practice skate before a rare audience at a shopping center. This isn't the best quality video...the footage is great but the mall seems to get in the way. Beautifully choreographed with excellent spins and jumps.
Late 2009 Casual Performance

5. Czisny won the free skate at the 2007 nationals. This performance shows more grace but you can tell that her maturity level has risen in the past two years. Compare this with the top one on this list. Even here, her spins are among the best in figure skating,
2007 Nationals Long Program

Published by Amanda Cartwright

Amanda Cartwright lives in the South. She has written for newspapers and magazines for over 20 years. View profile

Best Figure Skating Performances of Alissa Czisny

Best Skates of the 2009 U.S. Ladies Champion

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