Figure Skating

On Friday night, when some of the world's top figure skaters take the ice for the Stars on Ice exhibition at the Baltimore Arena, the lineup will be familiar: Kurt Browning, Kristi Yamaguchi, Katarina Witt. Even Tara Lipinski, at the comparatively young age of 19, has been in the show for four years now. These veterans are still throwing triple jumps, still skating with the beauty and talent that made them champions. But even the most ardent fans are saying something they never thought they would: It's getting a little old. After years of overexposure, of several televised skating events a weekend, the high-flying world of professional figure skating is hitting a rough patch.

Brenna Doherty's dream of becoming a world-class figure skater has had its share of bumpy landings. They began when Doherty was a freshman at Oakland Mills High in Columbia. After making the finals at junior nationals at ages 13 and 14, Doherty thought she wanted to try being a typical teenager. "When I first entered high school, I wanted to be a part of the Homecoming committee, and all kinds of stuff like that," Doherty, now 18, recalled recently. "I followed my friends and joined some of their clubs, but I definitely decided it wasn't for me. I wanted to go to the ice rink every day and train.

TOKYO -- When the Albertville Olympics opened, Japan was putting a formidable burden onto Midori Ito's 4-foot-9 frame.Sportswriters said over and over that the 97-pound, 22-year-old figure skating sensation was this country's best hope to break two embarrassing barriers -- its first Winter Olympics gold medal in 20 years and its first Winter Olympics medal for a woman."

The deadline for submitting sports copy is 9 a.m. on Mondays. We prefer email (howardcountysports@patuxent.com). We do not accept results by phone. When two Howard County teams play, players from both teams (first and last names) must be mentioned in the write-up. Questions? Call 410-332-6606. Figure Skating Columbia resident, Brenna Doherty, qualified earlier this month in the Junior Pairs at the Eastern Sectional Figure Skating Championships in Hyannis, Mass., for the U.S. Figure Skating Championships to be held Jan. 19-27, 2013.

Philippe Candeloro of France won the men's title at the NHK Trophy International Figure Skating competition in Tokyo.Candeloro was second in the technical program Friday, but with the help of an original spin yesterday, he earned his first victory in a major international meet.

Event: DuraSoft Colors World Professional Figure Skating ChampionshipsSite: Capital CentreWhen: Tonight, 7 p.m.Tickets: 500 availableOutlook: Brian Boitano will defend his three consecutive titles and test his Olympic prospects against Viktor Petrenko, Paul Wylie and Brian Orser. On the women's side, Olympic gold medalist Kristi Yamaguchi will make her professional debut against the likes of Jill Trenary, the world champion and three-time U.S. national champion. It will be their first meeting since Trenary defeated Yamaguchi for the U.S. National Championship in 1990.

Double dribbles or double axels? Traveling or lutzing? Television has them all tonight, with basketball on CBS and figure skating on NBC.* "Figure Skating World Championships" (8 p.m.-9 p.m., WMAR, Channel 2) -- Nine days ago, NBC sent out a press release promoting its coverage of tonight's World Figure Skating Championships, televised on a delayed same-day basis from Japan. Five prime-time hours are earmarked for NBC's coverage, but the lineup is a little thinner than when NBC made its announcement March 16. At that time, NBC trumpeted that Tonya Harding was among the expected competitors.

LANDOVER -- Katarina Witt has avoided the World Professional Figure Skating Championships with single-minded determination until tonight."This is the competition everyone talks about," said Witt. "I haven't wanted to do it. I've seen how it makes everyone nervous, and I haven't wanted to do it. But I've been doing a lot more skating this year and I just decided, 'OK, I'll go for it.' "It is difficult for the casual observer of figure skating to sort out all the different competitions. Every week there seems to be another championship.

If a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, then Verne Lundquist figures that he is downright frightening just about now, at least when it comes to figure skating."

ALBERTVILLE, France -- Men's figure skating began at the Olympics yesterday with the names Viktor Petrenko, Paul Wylie and Kurt Browning underlined. A skater who could beat them all was sitting in the stands."

Don't miss the cast of 60 local skaters from ages 3 to 55 in "Beauty and the Beast On Ice," presented by the Gardens Figure Skating Club Saturday, March 24 and Sunday, March 25 at 1 and 3:30 p.m at the Gardens Ice House Patrick Arena, 13800 Old Gunpowder Road. This figure skating portrayal of the classic French fairy tale features music from the 1991 Disney hit movie and the Broadway musical depicting a prince transformed into a beast who risks staying a beast forever unless he receives reciprocated love from a young woman named Belle.

Perched on her skates, Justise Fleming watched intently as her instructor spun around on the ice with ease. Then the determined 7-year-old from Patterson Park dug her right toe pick into the ice, reached back and swiveled in place. As her spin slowed she wobbled a bit like a tightrope walker on the high wire. But a sly smile of accomplishment spread across her face. A few feet away, 14 other girls tried the same two-foot spin. Most succeeded, but several plopped down hard. A few shrieks pierced the cold air of the Dominic Mimi DiPietro Family Skating Center in Patterson Park.

Alpine skiing Whistler DOWNHILL Men, Feb. 13; Women, Feb. 17 Best of U.S.: Lindsey Vonn has won five of the six women's World Cup downhill races and may be the most prohibitive favorite in Winter Olympics history. She has 31 World Cup victories but is seeking her first Olympic medal. That goal has been thrown in doubt by a shin bruise that could effect her performances – or even keep her out of the Games. Julia Mancuso ranks No. 9 in the world with two top-10 finishes.

SPOKANE, Wash. - - The two men who have been in an Olympics, Evan Lysacek and Johnny Weir, shared both mixed feelings about their flawed performances Sunday and the hope the best will come a month from now in Vancouver. The man going to his first Winter Games, Jeremy Abbott, might find it hard to top what he did. And he might not need to, for Abbott's free skate was such a tour de force that it not only turned an expected close competition into a rout, but it also was easily good enough to win an Olympic medal - even the gold.

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. -- Five months before the U.S. hockey team's "Miracle on Ice" Olympic performance transformed a sheet of ice into a sports icon, 65 figure skaters tested their skills and built their dreams in an international competition that became known as Skate America. For Scott Hamilton, it marked his first international gold medal. For Peter and Kitty Carruthers, it boosted their fledgling career as a pairs team after a rocky start. For Lisa-Marie Allen, the win was one of the few times she stood higher on the podium than some better-known women.

Just a week ago, Kimmie Meissner was talking about a comeback - from bad performances in recent years and from injuries that continued to nag her as she readied for a new season of figure skating. Now her dreams of a second trip to the Olympics in February are over. The former world and national figure skating champion from Bel Air has not recovered quickly enough from a dislocated right knee cap and tendinitis, which forced her to withdraw Thursday from both of her Grand Prix assignments.

Kimmie Meissner prepared for the worst and got the best. The former world and national champion from Bel Air suffered through a disastrous season last year that ended with a painful hip injury, and she figured the best she could hope for was a single Grand Prix competition this fall leading up to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Instead, the International Skating Union gave her two: the Rostelecom Cup in Moscow on Oct. 15-18 and the NHK Trophy in Nagano, Japan, on Nov. 5-8. "I wasn't really paying attention.