Seen here at the ESPY awards, Nastia and Evan have been dating since last summer, but word is that its now official. They do make a very striking couple!

One of the benefits of yoga according to Sasha is injury prevention thanks to the additional core strength and increased flexibility she has gotten from yoga training. She says she does yoga 4-5 days a week whether she is traveling or not.

If you are interested in incorporating yoga in your conditioning program or just giving it a try, check out any of these DVDs for a start:

• The Athlete’s Guide to Yoga: An Integrated Approach to Strength, Flexibility, and Focus
• The Athlete’s Pocket Guide to Yoga: 50 Routines for Flexibility, Balance, and Focus
• Yoga For Families: Connect With Your Kids

What’s your workout plan for today?

Seventeen year old Rachael Flatt, the 2008 World Junior Champion and 2008 US Championships silver medalist, has her sights squarely set on the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. After a short holiday in Hawaii this summer, Rachael is headed back to the ice, working with her mentor Dorothy Hamill, training and getting ready to make her mark on the world. LifeSkate.com spent a few minutes with Rachael earlier this summer and asked her about summer, her plans for the future and getting ready for the Olympics.

And like most 17-year olds, Rachel is now back in school – juggling class work and training – and as a high school senior, college applications. The Olympic hopeful has mastered the secret strategy for successful student-athletes – time management! Her typical day is spent between public high school (and AP classes none the less), training on and off-ice, prepping for SATs and college applications and trying to keep the balance!

The Olympic trials for ice skating will be held in conjunction withe US Nationals to be held January 14-24, 2010 in Spokane, Washington. This will allow approximately four weeks of training for the team prior to the Olympic games.

On the subject of the games, check out the gorgeous Vancouver 2010 Olympics Gear that has just been released!

Photo: USOC Athlete Portraits/Getty Images

Even though Sasha has not competed since 2006, she has stayed fit and has been skating as part of the Smuckers Stars on Ice Tour. Not surprising, she has been one of the tours’ most popular skaters thanks to her amazing flexibility, dynamic performances and her already established fan base.

According to her site:

It’s a good possibility that Sasha’s first competitive skate will be at Skate America, which is November 13-15 at Lake Placid, N.Y. U.S. Figure Skating executive director David Raith said Friday it’s a “logical assumption” she will be at Lake Placid.

Grand Prix assignments will be made May 30. Because Sasha didn’t compete in last year’s Grand Prix series, she is not automatically eligible for this season’s events and has to be invited by the individual organizers. “She’s not automatic. But I think when her name shows up on the list, she’ll be one of the first chosen,” Raith said.

Skate America has the first rights to Sasha. Raith said he also thinks one of the earlier events — Trophee Eric Bompard in Paris, the Rostelecom Cup in Moscow or Cup of China in Beijing — will have interest.

Sasha is definitely one of my favorite figure skaters of all time. What do you think – can she make the comeback? I think she can, but time will tell!

I tuned in to the US Figure Skating Championships over the weekend. With the 2010 Olympic Games right around the corner I wanted to see some of the faces to watch for myself.

Alissa Czisny was just the most gorgeous performer on the ice. Her costume was one of the most stunning outfits I have seen in ice skating in ages and I can’t help but think she looks a bit like Nancy Kerrigan with her long lines and huge smile. While she made a mistake in the long program, Alissa was clearly the winner in my eyes – others are not so sure.

Rachael Flatt may be very consistent and technically clean, but as far as I am concerned, her performances are a little bit… flat.  I have seen her skate a few times now and I just never get captivated by her performances. She definitely needs to learn to sell her routine to the judges and the crowd a bit more before taking to the ice in Vancouver.

Mirai Nagasu reminds me of so many upper level athletes in their teens. She has invested so much time in her sport and is now fighting her body (injuries, puberty, growing). Mirai was almost in tears as she took to the ice – seriously looking like she dreaded the moment. However, as she completed each move and landed each jump you could see her confidence and enjoyment return slowly. By the end of the performance she was smiling and truly happy with herself. I really like her skating and hope this was a the beginning of her return to the top.

Caroline Zhang is definitely one to watch! The 15 year old knows how to sell her skating and captivates you with her gorgeous dance, big jumps, and you can tell she is really into it.

Ashley Wagner was the winner of the long program and unfortunately I did not see her performance.

Top skaters Kimmie Meissner and Emily Hughes were out with injuries – hopefully they will be back in competition soon.

It will be interesting to see which of these seven women will be representing the United States in the 2010 Olympic Games. Who do you think will make it? Or is it too soon to predict?

Caroline Zhang photo Flickr

U.S. Champion figure skater Kimmie Meissner’s run of bad luck has continued. Meissner, who spent the past year battling mono, a growth spurt and coaching change, has injured her hip. She initially injured it while running on the treadmill last week in training, but reinjured in doing a jump in preparation for this week’s 2009 U.S. Championships in Cleveland.

Her injury is severe enough to cause her to withdraw from the Championships. Hopefully she can rest it, get treatment and return to train in time to be ready for Stars on Ice later this season. Meissner was hoping to use her performance at the US Championships as a indicator of her readiness for the 2010 Winter Olympic games in Vancouver.

The ladies field consists of U.S. skaters Mirai Nagasu (reigning U.S. champion and World Junior bronze medalist), Rachael Flatt (reigning World Junior champion) and Kimmie Meissner (2006 World Champion and winner Skate America 2007).

Additionally, it is rumored that Japanese skater, Miki Ando, has been landing “quads” during the practice sessions.  There are an additional 8 skaters in the ladies program which should make for an exciting competition all the way around.

Which Olympic stars will begin to emerge this weekend? Who do you think will be crowned champion at Skate America this year?

The gymnasts featured were: Nastia Liukin, Catalina Ponor, Paul Hamm, Jonathan Horton, Kevin Tan, Raj Bhavsar, Ivan Ivankov, and the acro team of Arthur Davis and Shenea Booth. The ice skaters included: Shizuka Arakawa, Evgeni Plushenko, Xue Shen, Hongbo Zho, Surya Bonaly, Michael Weiss, Yuka Sato, Violetta Afanasieva and Peter Dack.

What do you think of these types of “sport meets show” events? Personally, I think they are a wonderful way to expose larger audiences to the sports while giving the athletes an avenue to continue performing.

St. Paul, Minnesota will play host to the U.S. Figure Skating Championships from January 20-27, 2008. Approximately 250 figure skaters from all over the United States will compete in the novice, junior and senior levels for 12 national titles awarded in ladies singles, men’s singles, pairs and dance. Ladies singles 2007 Champion, Kimmie Meissner, will be defending her title and Emily Hughes will certainly be trying to capture it.

Other senior women’s competitors include:

Becky Bereswill
Melissa Bulanhagui
Alissa Czisny
Laney Diggs
Rachael Flatt
Katrina Hacker
Chrissy Hughes
Emily Hughes
Megan Hyatt
Danielle Kahle
Beatrisa Liang
Angie Lien
Mirai Nagasu
Molly Oberstar
Stephanie Roth
Tenile Victorsen
Ashley Wagner
Megan Williams-Stewart
Caroline Zhang
Karen Zhou