KZBlog

So obviously the big news out of Vancouver today is that Plushenko, coming out of retirement especially to compete in the 2010 Winter Olympics, took the silver medal and Evan Lysacek took the gold. Both skated beautifully and while some will complain that Plushenko got cheated, the Russian commentators on Eurosport seemed pretty happy that he got a silver after 3 years of retirement and starring in Dima Bilan videos!

However, another champion is clearly being groomed. While Kazakhstan is not as strong in winter sports as it is in summer Olympic events, there are a few solid athletes on our team. Dennis Ten, at age 16, skated a beautiful and technically almost perfect short program. Unfortunately the judges found imperfection in his Triple Lutz to Triple Toeloop and his sitting spin. But they did score him a solid 76.24 points (and a personal best) putting him in place 10 at the end of the day. US based viewers can see his short program on NBC’s site.

His freestyle today was another good performance. He needs to work on his transitions from jumps into Triple Toeloops apparently as he again flubbed it and didn’t complete the Toeloops, but it was an excellent show overall and won him 135.01 points, which is pretty good for a sixteen year old competing with Pluschenko, Weir, Joubert and Lambiel. He finished in only 11th place overall, but I think he deserved top 10 consideration personally.

Ten himself said that some of these guys he is skating with are his childhood idols, so he’s thrilled just to be on the ice. Keep up that humble attitude and that skill and I think Ten is a contender for a 2014 medal. In fact, NBC’s profile of Kazakhstan’s Olympic Team said that while Kazakhstan is not a contender for a medal, Ten may make a top ten finish and should be a crowd pleaser. So it’s a solid start for a young great skater.

For those who don’t follow figure skating or Kazakhstan sports, Ten is from Almaty but lives and trains in Moscow now. In 2005 he won the Kazakhstan Championships. In 2006 he won the Junior Haabersti Cup, the Junior Dragon Trophy and the Novice Coupe Internationale Nice. He was also the first Kazakhstani skater to win the Junior Grand Prix in Belarussia in 2008 and in 2009 he gave Kazakhstan two places in the World Figure Skating Championships, where he came in 8th.