DOUGLAS RAZZANO: In his own words

(December 2007 | Photo courtesy of Douglas Razzano)

I am absolutely thrilled! [to make the JGP Final as an alternate] Finalists (men) in particular don't get injured too often, so I guess I was lucky!

I am not in school this semester because I hoped to have a busy fall (and I have). So this is the best time for all this to happen!

The most exciting moment [for me this season] was at the JGP Estonia. I was in seventh place after the short and I sat and watched the entire last group. Then, when the event was finally over, I was still in fourth place! It was awfully scary to watch, but was so exciting when it finished.

My favorite place to travel to is Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, where Triglav Trophy is held. It is amazingly beautiful there. You're at the base of the snow covered Alps! It doesn't get any better! I would go back in a heartbeat!

L ast year while coming back from JGP Liberec we had some major travel issues... First, our plane left Prague an hour late. So when we landed in Frankfurt, we only had twenty minutes to make our connection... And for those who have been to Frankfurt, 20 minutes will get you nowhere. So we missed our connection to Dulles and god bless there was one more flight to North America that day. We got routed through Denver. When we arrived in Denver, we had an hour and a half or so. We waited, waited, and waited for our bags and nothing came. We waited so long in baggage claim that we missed our next flight to Phoenix. Finally we arrived home without bags and they didn't show until four days later! Ahhhhh!

At Sectionals I was hoping to get a [last-minute] bye but I ended up having to skate. I think it was a good exercise for me. Although, it was a little scary after I mopped the ice in the long wondering if I was even going to qualify [for 2008 Nationals]. I got a fantastic short program out of it though. I have to look on the bright side!

The only thing that is changing [for the Junior Grand Prix Final] is now the triple Axel in the beginning of the long will have a triple toe on the end. The short is staying the same.

My personal goals for the JGP Final are: of course to skate two clean programs, land my triple Axel-triple toe in the freeskate, and to skate calmly and confidently.