The most amazing ice show - videos

I managed to catch some videos of the performance at Sentosa. Here are some of them. The first is of Tatiana Navka & Roman Kostomarov - I was father back, and some parts got blocked by the tall plants. The second, Ilia Klimkin, I had moved to the rink-side, and got an unblocked view. The third, Victoria Volchkova, I managed to get only the first part, as my camera ran out of memory!

Navka & Kostomarov


Ilia Klimkin


Victoria Volchkova

The most amazing ice show

It was a private event. A dinner to close the Russia-Singapore Business Forum, an ice rink on the beach at Sentosa, sponsored by Russia's biggest private investment bank, Troika Dialog.

Who were skating?

Performances by the highest-level Russian skaters like Alexei Yagudin, Alexander Abt, Ilia Klimkin, Victoria Volchkova, pair skaters Tatiana Totmianina & Maxim Marinin, and ice dancers Tatiana Navka & Roman Kostomarov... just to name a few. It was wonderful to be sitting rink-side watching their performances!

What was more, SISA was also given an opportunity to showcase our local talent. Two Singaporean skaters skated their programs: 10-year-old Ng Yi Ching and 14-year-old Alexandria Wong. They both skated clean, and maintained terrific composure both on and off the ice. Jonnansical Boo also skated in a last-minute tie-up with Russian skater Ilia Averbukh.

Why was I there?

SISA committed to have 5 coaches on-site to help out with the open skating session after the performances. We didn't have to do much though - most of them were just natural! There were also a few who had skated before and tried spirals, jumps & spins.

It was past midnight by the time we left (and I had an early morning lesson this morning, so needless to say, I am still half asleep!) but it was quite an enjoyable night. How many times do I get to skate in a rink on the beach - that looked right out onto the sea? That was fun!

What do I want to achieve in skating?

Sometimes I wonder, what do I want to achieve in skating. Sometimes I wonder, what do I really want out of competitions.

After all, I've gotta get real - its not like I can dream of going to the Olympics or anything. BUT there is possibly some hope that adult skating will take off, and there will really be an "Adult Worlds" - in fact, some have already started to dub the ISU Adult Competition in Oberstdorf as the "Adult Worlds".

However, from a high-level, personal point of view, there is one thing that I really want, and have been pursuing for the last few years:
A perfect competition program, recorded on video
And I am still searching for it!

I came in second at the 2004 Mountain Cup. That was a pretty decent program, except that I fell on the double Sal... and of course the flying camel and double Toe were horrendous! My 2006 Mountain Cup program - which won me the cup, finally - had a terribly messed-up double toe.

At the first Mountain Cup I went to in 2000, I won the Bronze Young Ladies' event. If I don't remember wrong, it was a clean program, and must have been my closest-to-perfect program, but no, I wasnt' satisfied - I needed to move up (though I wasn't expecting to move to Gold in the next competition - I skipped a level, and paid the price for it!)

Now, that begs the question of, how can I get a "perfect" program when I'm always striving for more difficult elements? This is where I realise the challenge is two-fold - striving for higher level of difficulty and of perfection!

Hence, the ever-elusive "perfect program on video" will remain just that: ever-elusive.