2007 Figure Skating Events and Highlights

On November 17, 2007, U.S. pair skaters, Tiffany Vise and Derek Trent landed the first quadruple throw salchow at a figure skating competition.

Allissa Czisny, Ryan Bradley, and Evan Lysacek did some of the best performances of their lives at the 2007 U.S. National Figure Skating Championships. Those performances earned them spots to the 2007 World Figure Skating Championships.

Keauna McLaughlin and Rockne Brubaker, Stephen Carriere and Caroline Zhang, all from the United States, won junior world figure skating titles in 2007. The only event that the U.S. did not win was in ice dancing.

"Blades of Glory" is a comedy about two male figure skaters who decide to compete together in pair skating. The movie was released in theaters in April of 2007 and came out on DVD in late August. It is said that figure skating's popularity increased after the movie hit the theaters and the DVD market.

On March 28, 2007, two Australian figure skating officials and one young prominent Austraian figure skater were killed in a tragic accident. Other influential people in the Australian figure skating community were injured.

Liz Cain, 1980 Olympian, and coach and mother of Australian Men's Figure Skating Champion, Sean Carlow, lost her leg. Sean saved his mother's life by diving into the water after she fainted when part of her leg was cut off at impact. The evening cruise had been a way for the group to celebrate being together during a Kathy Casey Seminar. Kathy Casey was not on the boat.

Before 2007, there had been DVDs and videos available that demonstrated advanced compulsory ice dances, but there was not anything available about beginning ice dancing. "Learn to Ice Dance" was written and produced in 2007 by ice dancer Cheryl Elton. It is geared for figure skaters of all ages and levels.

Figure skater, Dorothy Hamill, won the gold medal at the 1976 Winter Olympics. She had experienced little of life then. A little over thirty years later, in 2007, Hamill wrote A Skating Life: My Story. In the book, Hamill shares her personal life and experiences in an easy to read format.

During the U.S. Figure Skating qualifying competition season, skaters usually begin competing at Regional events. They then advance to Sectionals and then those who qualify, go on to Nationals.

For the 2007-08 competition season, U.S. Figure Skating's Governing Council decided to allow all Juvenile and Intermediate level pair and dance teams to advance directly to Junior Nationals. The skaters did have the option of competing in Sectionals, but did not have to participate in a sectional event to qualify for the national event. IceNetwork.com covered the event.

Disney's High School Musical: The Ice Tour began in 2007. The show was inspired by the Disney Channel Original Movie, "High School Musical," and "High School Musical 2."

The world ice dancing champion, Maxim Staviski, was charged with drunk driving. A man died when the skater's vehicle collided with a car on August 5, 2007.