Figure Skating XIX

that is how to skate, Emmi, you lazy bitch

Riko Takino 166.29 (SP: 56.49 FS: 109.80) won Junior ladies at Kinki regionals yesterday. She’s coached by Oda and his mom.

2 Mana Kawabe 166.13 3 Moa Iwano (5th at Kaunas) 161.69 4 TV/film actress Miyu Honda 157.11. Junior Men: 1 Mitsuki Sumoto 202.45 2 Lucas Tsuyoshi Honda 169.12 3 Takeru Takaise 153.29.

First broadcast of Carnival on Ice today at 12PM on TV Tokyo. Special full broadcast (no cuts) with commentary by Tatsuki Machida on October 18, 5:29PM, BS TV Tokyo.

Takahashi skates at 14:59:00 today. Tomono follows him.

What did Daleman say during her drunken instastory/live? She's supposed to be injured or il. That's why Mariah Bell had to replace her at JO.

My understanding is that Daleman's reason for withdrawing was IBD--inflammatory bowel disease. So now she's posting drunk instastories?

R3 Is that a joke or was that the reason she gave? Apparently the drunken instastory or livestream was during the Japan Open.

"Gabrielle Daleman was recently diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome, the latest in a list of physical ailments to sideline the world bronze medallist. IBS affects the large intestine and causes cramping, abdominal pain, and bloating, among other unpleasant symptoms."

There's more about her illness in the article. However, this was August 29 so maybe she withdrew for a different reason.

Yeah, that seems kind of an embarrassing thing for a skater to reveal to the public.

Gabby seems not to mind revealing all this stuff about herself.

R5 Thank you. That's too bad. She was added to JO in June and her dropping out was announced just a week before competition, along with Kostner's injury and replacement.

I thought Kostner was planing to retire after the Worlds in Italy last March, R8?

Anyone know what the music deduction was called for on Stepanovitch and Bukin at Finlandia?

I think Stepanova & Bukin are horrible.

They are some of the sloppiest ice dancers I have ever seen.

I hate the fact that the judges are trying to give them the highest scores possible.

Daisuke below 195 total score. He is already behind Nakamura with Tomono still to stake

Kinki Regionals Men:

1 Kazuki Tomono 206.80 (SP: 70.94 FS: 135.86) fell on 4S

2 Yu Nakamura: 202.15 (SP: 71.99 FS: 130.16)

3 Daisuke Tahakashi 195.82 (SP: 77.28 FS: 118.54) fell on both 3A’s

Nakamura skated to R&J…

Wakaba Higuchi still waiting to do her FS at Tokyo block. She was first for SP with 57.97 (TES: 27.59 PCS: 31.38 Ded: 1.00). Fell on 3Lz+COMBO and 3F got edge call.

R9 She’s still competing but pulled out of JO due to inflammation in her left leg. Maria Sotskova was her replacement.

R13 how many qualifies from each Regional?

r14 For senior men in Kinki, it's 13 to move up to Western Japan sectionals. There were only 10 competitors. Western Japan is made up of Kinki (13), Chubu (9), and Chu-Shikoku-Kyushu (8, 2 exemptions). From Western Sectionals, 13 (2 exemptions) 2 seeded. Takahashi shouldn't have any trouble qualifying for nationals even if he bombs.

Eastern Japan senior men: Tohoku-Hokkaido (6, 1 exemption), Kanto (4), Tokyo (20). From Eastern sectionals, 8, 1 seeded.

Judges scores, depressing for everyone:

R15 thanks. In other Regionals there are many more skaters compared to qualifying slots available? Maybe they can think about cutting and doing directly just Sectionals if almost everybody qualify from Regionals

Higuchi wins Tokyo block with 181.54, FS: 123.57 (TES: 57.16 PCS: 66.41). Edge call on 3F+2T+1Lo. Akari Matsubara placed second but had much higher TES for SP (32.59) and FS (63.54) than Higuchi. No filming by audience is allowed and most news crews are probably in Kinki. I haven't seen any tweets about it, either.

r16 The number that qualifies for each block is based on the result of the previous years sectionals. The total number of skaters for Eastern and Western sectionals is 30 each. Each block gets 5 (more or less) + the number of skaters that placed in the top 15 at sectionals the previous year. So it changes every year.

For senior men, there are fewer skaters than places this year. There was only one skater for entire Tohoku-Hokkaido (yes, he still had to skate), two for Chubu and three for Chu-Shikoku-Kyushu. But that wasn't the case for junior men and certainly not the case for any ladies.

r17 So it looks like Japanese men's FS is in a slump right now but they've got a wide pool of juniors?

Xiangning Li/Zhong Xie have been pulled out from GP

R19 Wasn't it a little odd they were invited in the first place? I'm confused about the situation with her. Is she still planning to compete in singles? She is supposed to be at NHK trophy.

R20 She was withdrawn from NHK too today

She did a national competition in Pairs last month and they were 64 points behind Peng/Jin. Also 25 points behind Wang/Wang.

The best Honda sister, Sara Honda, won Novice A Kinki block with 100.74. +2+3 on her 3Lz+3T and 2A+3T+2T.

R17 I think there are more junior than senior men everywhere except for Tokyo, but not by that much. The novice numbers don’t seem that significant, either. It’s a very different story for the ladies. By the way, pairs and dance do skip block and start at sectionals, and because there are so few numbers, all pairs go to Eastern sectionals this year while dance goes to Western sectionals, regardless of where they train. There was only 1-2 teams per event last year. Only 3 pairs at nationals.

R19 R20 R21 How much say do the Chinese skaters have when it comes to switching between singles and pairs/dance? If the federation wants them to do pairs instead, do they have no choice?

I thought they offered ice dance to Yan Han and he said no - so they stopped supporting him in men's singles. That's all from (a hazy) memory though, but the guy had chops, back in the day. Better skating quality than Jin, imo.

r20 She withdrew.

Evelyn Walsh/Trennt Michaud (Canada) are assigned to Skate America

Laura Barquero/Aritz Maestu (Spain) are assigned to Finnish GP.

Both replace the Chinese pair

We are reaching the point when random pairs on the street will get a GP if further pairs get injured

R23 Thank you. I remember hearing about that but it seemed so strange that China would want to move their best singles skater to pairs. I wonder if the wider political climate has had some kind of influence on what's been going on lately. Isn't Raf running camps for their juniors? I thought China was also putting some effort into dance.

Uno's brother Itsuki is back. He appeared on a popular variety show to talk about how he got his brother to appear in his campaign video for school president. (Not clear why he wanted to be president when he's always gone to accompany Shoma to all of his international competitions and camps.) Itsuki won 80% of the vote, although it seems like his classmates are getting tired of him now. Then he said he and Shoma game 8 hours a day.

[quote] Isn't Raf running camps for their juniors? I thought China was also putting some effort into dance.

I don't know if he is also running camps, but they send 2 boys ( Chen Yudong and Fang ShuaI) to California to train with him

They have send Wang/Liu and another ice dance couple (Chen/Zhou...both used to dance with another one until last year) to train at Gadbois. I guess it can count as putting for effort in dance

New photos of Paul Poirier's furry chest: : )

It's like a tarantula landed in his chest. Still hot though.

Akiko Suzuki got divorced after less than two years of marriage to her elementary school classmate. Her parents said that she was planning to become a housewife but didn't know how to cook , clean, or do laundry, and as she became more busy with her new career as a TV personality and commentator, didn't have time to improve her housework skills. Suzuki hasn't said anything about what happened herself. She just gave a lecture on eating disorders in Kyoto a few days ago.

Alexander Gamelin has come out. Not that we didn't know

I wish dreamy Scott Moir were gay.

Oh lord R30. So Akiko's parents blamed her for the divorce because she wasn't a traditional housewife? No wonder the poor woman had eating disorders and god only knows what other complexes.

r30 I thought she was married to a man 20 year her senior. Did I confuse her with somebody else?

Alex Gamelin has a BF? I mean lots of men on Grindr are partnered, but seemed like he was single in March...

R29, I like Paul Poirier's naturally hairy chest.

I think this photo is also hot:

Paul Poirier's legs would look good resting in Scott Moir's shoulders...

R33 No, they're more on her side, but I think they're confused. While she and her ex were dating, her dad actually told the tabloids that if her boyfriend was going to marry her, he’d need to cook, clean, do her laundry and wait for her when she came home from work because competitive skating didn’t allow her to acquire those skills and she shouldn’t be expected to be able to do them right away. According to today’s interview with the parents, however, Suzuki had planned to become a housewife when she got married, but then her TV career took off and she was never able to learn how to do those basic life skills which created a rift with the husband, and they wished he'd been more understanding.

But now Suzuki's just appeared on television and she's saying that she'd never intended to become a housewife and did learn how to take care of herself and her home, but had been too busy with work and was often gone (she lives in Nagoya, but most of her shows film in Tokyo and her lectures and commentating take her all over the place). I think the ex-husband, who works fulltime for some topnotch foreign company, was tired of being left alone and with all of the housework. The couple wasn’t even living together at first after they got married. They wanted to have kids, but that wouldn’t have been possible with their situation. Or maybe the ex-husband didn’t appreciated the way his father-in-law would blab about private matters that weren't really his business to the press.

R34 Could you be thinking of the married man who may have fathered Ando’s girl?

Uno, who was supposedly eating marshmallows he’d taken out from his pocket in the K&C during JO, is already in Canada. Amazon is taking orders for his brother’s book. He still hasn’t announced the charity he’s chosen.

Daleman withdrew from Skate Canada to deal with her mental health

The what competitions are there this weekend ??? Apart from the JGP

R40 Nothing else

Next weekend GP starts with Skate America. Halloween Cup (Budapest) and the Ice Star (Minsk) also take place on 18-21th

Thanks R41. I guess we'll have to wait for next weekend.

October-November International ISU recognized competitions

18-21th: Skate America, Budapest (no pairs), Minsk

24-28th: Skate Canada, Golden Bear of Zagreb (no Dance), Crystal Skate (somewhere in Romania, no Pairs and Dance)

1-4th November: Finnish GP, Tirnavia Ice Cup (somewhere in Slovakia, only Juniors)

7-11th November: NHK, Volvo Cup (Latvia), Pavel Roman Memorial (Czech Republic, only Ice Dance), Prague Riedell Ice Cup (Prague, only Juniors)

16-18th November: Rostelecom Cup, Innsbruck (Challenger Series)

23-25th November: French GP, Skate Celje (Slovenia, only Junior)), Warsaw (no Pairs)

26-02 Dec: Tallin (Challenger), Bosphorus Cup (no Pairs), Open of Andorra, Denkova-Staviski Cup (no Pairs and Dance), Christmas Cup in Budapest (no Pairs)

What happened to “Inge Solar Memorial – Alpen Trophy” that had been scheduled for Innsbruck, Austria, from Nov 11 to 18?

Oh now I see - Rostelecom? I thought that meant "Cup of Russia"

R44 Innsbruck is still there. It is now a Challenger. It is on the same week as the Rostelecom Cup (GP)

They cancelled the competition in Graz on 7-11 November

Cup of Nice scheduled for next week has also been cancelled. It was a quite long standing event.

Thanks R46. It's a shame about the cancellations.

JGPF lineup

Ladies (5 RUS, 1 KOR):

Alexandra Trusova 30 (442.44)

Alena Kostornaia 30 (401.88)

Anna Scherbakova 30 (400.95)

Anastasia Tarakanova 28 (380.74)

Yelim Kim 26 (388.23)

Alena Kanysheva 26 (379.39)

Pairs (5 RUS, 1 USA):

Anastasia MISHINA / Aleksandr GALLIAMOV 30 (372.51)

Polina KOSTIUKOVICH / Dmitrii IALIN 28 (361.47)

Kseniia AKHANTEVA / Valerii KOLESOV 26 (357.97)

Apollinariia PANFILOVA / Dmitry RYLOV 26 (351.55)

Anastasia POLUIANOVA / Dmitry SOPOT 22 (321.72)

Sarah FENG / TJ NYMAN 16 (297.49)

Men and dance will be decided later today.

Ghislain Briand has been helping Satoko Miyahara on her jumps. She’ll be on Gets Sports (TV Asahi) tomorrow. Zagitova will be on Honoo no Taiikukai in costume and disguise (like Fernandez’s episode) next Saturday (20th). Trainer Shinichi Demizu has uploaded a video of a warmup he did with Uno.

[quote]Daleman withdrew from Skate Canada to deal with her mental health

Probably a good idea.

She's probably still dealing with the effects of her implosion at the Olympics.

Qualified for Ice Dance Junior GP Final

Arina Ushakova / Maxim Nekrasov (Russia) 168.17 +172.81 (points in the 2 stages)

Elizaveta Khudaiberdieva / Nikita Nazarov (Russia) 159.62+161.00

Avonley Nguyen / Vadym Kolesnik (USA) 161.84+165.63

Sofia Shevchenko / Igor Eremenko (Russia) 158.70 +161.67

Marjorie Lajoie / Zachary Lagha (Canada) 153.79+166.52

Maria Kazakova / Georgy Reviya (Georgia) 154.17+164.65

Men qualified for Junior GP Final

Petr Gumennik (Russia) 439.29 (sum of the 2 GP scores)

Camden Pulkinen (USA) 436.40

Adam Siao Him Fa (France) 405

Tomoki Hiwatashi (USA) 428.40

Andrew Torgashev (USA) 396.38

Koshiro Shimada (Japan) 433.40

Are the Greens injured? I just realized they didn't skate in the JGP.

R51 Fa is coached by Joubert. So Joubert and Lambiel both have juniors in the finals.

Joubert is so handsome. Is he still living with his mom?

Not sure. I think Joubert may live on his own now. I think his parents got divorced a few years ago and he was spending more time with his mom for a while to cheer her up.

Off topic, but I am really loving Kaori Sakamoto's LP. Love the music and Benoit's choreography in this program, particularly the steps out of the triple salchow.

[quote]Paul Poirier's legs would look good resting in Scott Moir's shoulders...

Here's a video from a couple of years ago of Scott Moir & Tessa Virtue interviewing Paul Poirier & Piper Gilles:

R56, Agreed, Sakamoto tends to get overlooked a bit, but she actually made it through the Japanese Ladies bloodbath last year to the Olympics, so she's not to be underestimated. I don't recall the music from The Piano being used much, but it actually works really well for a skating program--good speed, long crescendos that work well for jumps. She's a really musical skater--and I love her upper body--precise, refined movements.

I know they're not the big power skaters, but I love the way the Japanese women skate, prefer it to the Russians.

SKATE AMERICA will start the GP season next week

MEN

Nam Nguyen

Kevin Reynolds

Michael Brezina

Romain Ponsart

Moris Kvitelashvili

Alexei Bychenko

Matteo Rizzo

Julian Yee

Sergei Voronov

Nathan Chen

Jimmy Ma

Vincent Zhou

____

If in decent shape, Chen should win. USFSA will try to get Vincent into second place. Behind that the situation is fluid and depends on the day. Bychenko looked totally out of shape at Finland Trophy. Voronov looked decent at Nepela but he struggled more at an internal event last week. Rizzo is solid but without strong weapons. Kvitelashvili's score depends on how many times he falls on the quads. Nguyen did well at US International in a very messy competition.

LADIES

Loena Hendrickx

Alaine Chartrand

Laurine Lecavelier

Marin Honda

Satoko Miyahara

Kaori Sakamoto

Elena Radionova

Sofia Samodurova

Polina Tsurskaya

Starr Andrews

Bradie Tennelll

Megan Wessenberg

------

it looks quite open. The Russians here are weak. A nice internal battle between Japanese. Tennell will look forward to another good result (maybe a win)

PAIRS

Evelyn Walsh / Trennt Michaud

Minerva Fabienne Hase / Nolan Seegert

Annika Hocke / Ruben Blommaert

Alisa Efimova / Alexander Korovin

Evgenia Tarasova / Vladimir Morozov

Ashley Cain / Timothy LeDuc

Nica Digerness / Danny Neudecker

Alexa Scimeca Knierim / Chris Knierim

Tarasova/Morozov will win. Knierims and Cain/LeDuc will aim at a podium finish

ICE DANCE

Katharina Müller / Tim Dieck

Lilah Fear / Lewis Gibson

Robynne Tweedale / Joseph Buckland

tCharlène Guignard / Marco Fabbri

Natalia Kaliszek / Maksym Spodyriev

Tiffany Zahorski / Jonathan Guerreiro

tAlexandra Nazarova / Maxim Nikitin

Madison Hubbell / Zachary Donohue

Karina Manta / Joseph Johnson

Lorraine McNamara / Quinn Carpenter

H/D will win. I guess it can be close for second between Russians and Italians depending on the panel and on Z/G's conditions (they have suffered a minor injured and didn't do any Challenger). McN/C should be a solid 4th, let's see how close to the podium

Brian Joubert did the French version of Dancing with the Stars two years ago (see Youtube). You can see him shaking his juicy butt.

Bradie was a little shaky at the Japan Open, though I haven't been able to see a video of either of her programs. She needs a good placement here for a shot at the Grand Prix final since her other competition is tough. The Japanese girls have been looking good so far.

Who'd have thought a year ago that the American Ladies at Skate America would be Bradie, Starr and Megan Who?ssenberg?

Jimmy Ma should be entertaining. Vincent will be nerd-boy weird and we'll see if Nathan still gives a damn about skating.

Video about Satoko Miyahara training with Ghislain Briand to rework all of her jumps from scratch, particularly focusing on fixing the poor alignment of her shoulders and hips (as a result of trying to rotate the body too early) that was causing her to rely on the wrong toe and jump jumps that lacked height and power. Braind speaks from 8:50. Slow motion footage outlining her problematic technique at 11:40.

Karen Chen withdraws from Finland GP

And Radionova out from Skate America. I think they can choose not to replace her given the short notice

Alysa Liu attempted the 4Lz at Sectionals this weekend

She popped the first attempt. And she fell on the second, called UR

Ah, the assistant technical specialist was Christopher Pottenger who is back on duty (for those who remembered last year's stories about sexual relationships with 17 years old students)

She tried the 3A in the SP but she popped it

In the FS she was successful in the 3A attempt and got it into a combo with 2T

Alysa Liu's coming on strong, but she's so young that the USFA has to hold her off for a couple of years--at least 'til she can compete as a junior. And, for pete's sake, get her through adolescence before making her the queen of US skating.

Otherwise, congrats to a true possible champion in the making.

The Ice Dance judging panel for 2019 Championships have been drawn

World Championships: Australia, Bulgaria, China, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine

Junior World Championships: Bulgaria, Canada, China, Czech Republic, France, Georgia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Russia, Spain, Ukraine, USA

European Championships: Bulgaria, France, Great Britain, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine

Four Continents Championships: Australia, Bosnia Herzegovina, Canada, China, Georgia, Japan, New Zealand, Poland, USA

Hmmm, no USA judge for Worlds? That's not good. No Canadian either.

Yeah, I think we're going to see another year of Papadakis and Cizeron up at the top.

Interested to see Nathan vs Vincent this weekend.

Yep, I'm looking forward to the SA competition--a bit of everybody. I may even tune into the pairs, which isn't scintillating this season (so glad James/Cipres stuck around, because otherwise, it's a desert out there.)

Finally saw Bradie's FS from the Japan Open, one stumble, but no falls, so I'm going to chalk the stumble and the URs to new jumps and jet lag. Also at both the JO and the Autumn Classic she seemed to be running a little low on energy toward the end, so I think she's still getting her conditioning up.

Wonder if Karen Chen is out for the season, or if she'll make a run for nationals. Gracie Gold, on the other hand, is still on schedule to compete later this season. It would be weird if Gold made a real comeback, but maybe she will.

[quote]Brian Joubert did the French version of Dancing with the Stars two years ago (see Youtube). You can see him shaking his juicy butt.

Any updates on Brian Joubert's personal life?

Hasnt Kevin Reynolds retired ?

He's scheduled for Skate America and NHK, unless there's been a very recent withdrawal.

r31 I thought he found a nice Asian girl as is de rigueur. Shame it didn't work out for him.

[quote]He's scheduled for Skate America and NHK, unless there's been a very recent withdrawal.

I don't get why Kevin Reynolds is coming back.

They said at the 2018 Canadian Championships that he was retiring, particularly after he didn't make the Olympic team.

He is too inconsistent to be able to climb the rankings at this late stage of his career.

yes, I don't see what else Reynolds can achieve. His 4CCs FS outing was pretty decent. It could have worked as career farewell.

Rippon and Shibutanis have been taken out from USFSA International pool. No surprise tbh. More surprisingly Wagner and Miner are still there.

Sorry to be a dumb pest but what is the USFSA International pool ?? And are other retired skaters in it?

Withoout Patrick Chan, there's only Nam Nguyen and Keegan Messing left on the top. Nguyen is still a hit and miss, beatable. Reynolds can be Canada's no. 2.

Keegan was smart to jump ship from US to Canada. I still think Med should switch to Armenia (assuming Russia would release her.) The coming onslaught of female Russians - well, I think it will be a tsunami and loads of them have more in their toolkit than Med will ever have imo. Hell, even Zags has more - and she needs to be worried herself and may not have an off ramp. Could she marry somebody and then switch countries? (a bit facetious there but for some countries, especially Russia/Japan, it's bloody hell making the cut, so if there's another route to go, I'd say take it!)

Oops - I keep forgetting that Zags is only 16. Apologies if I offended anyone. She seems older to me.

R80 It is the list of potential skaters US Skating Federation use to give International assignments. It is updated through the season

R81 yes, he can still be number 2. But it is not a sure thing. Sadovsky has beaten him by 35 points at Autumn Classic. I believe he likes Japan and probably want to end with Worlds in Saitama. He can qualify because as you said those behind Messing are not consistent

R82 IIRC ISU tried to implement a rule saying that if you have citizenship of a country you can switch to it without needing release from your previous Fed. It was around the time Didier was blocking Tiffany Zagorski's release to Russia. But it was not implemented in the end, I think.

Hmmm R84 - I wonder if that means the Shibutanis are done with competitive skating? But they are 27 and 24, so I guess it's not that big a surprise. Money may be an issue?

R85 Next season you can be re-put on the International Pool (I think Gracie Gold did the same path). But I wouldn't be surprised if they won't come back. I am surprised Miner and especially Ashley still pretend they will somehow show up at some point this season.

Chock/Bates withdraw from Finland GP

Angela Wang replaces Karen Chen in Helsinki

Starr Andrews replaces Dabin Choi in Canada

Juniors Worlds 2021 given to China

Is there still a second slot left for Eun-soo Lim? (I think she's only scheduled for Rostelecom, if I've managed to keep up)

For what it's worth, Dave Lease said he asked Raf if she was going to get a second GP place, I think after the three withdrawals at Skate Canada, and according to Dave, Raf said he didn't know.

R88 NHK has still a slot free. And Skate America (but it starts in a few days...)

I think Nam is at the top of the list - and still only has one spot, as well. Oh well, some people are gonna be leapfrogged to put a lower ranked skater in the open slots.

Doesn't Nam have 2 after he got host pick at Skate Canada?

Oh I didn't know Nam got Skate Canada. Good! I was worried about him (like I was Cha till he finally got his second).

[quote]Withoout Patrick Chan, there's only Nam Nguyen and Keegan Messing left on the top. Nguyen is still a hit and miss, beatable. Reynolds can be Canada's no. 2.

Well, it's true that with Patrick Chan retiring, room has opened up in the Canadian men's hierarchy.

But it's still a little surprising that Kevin Reynolds would want to continue since he's 28 now and has probably already had his best days.

You Young quad lutz?

Chock/Bates not getting a GP final slot then--so opening up a spot for the Russians, then? Definitely makes it easier for G/P

So probably--P/C, H/D, W/P, G/P. Then, Russians or Italians? Hawayek/Baker or another young American team?

What is Karen Chen's injury?

Don't get why Chock/Bates are still competing anyway.

It's obvious they won't get back the top American spot from Hubbell/Donohue, and they were almost beaten at Worlds by Gilles/Poirier.

Would have thought they would have wanted to retire after last season.

Oh wow R94. I don't know anything about judging jumps but that quad lutz looked great to me - easy. Trusova has opened the floodgates.

You Young will be 15 in May. I wonder if she's moving up to seniors next year? It's may be a bloodbath for current senior women - it's hard to see how at least some of these wunderkind juniors don't break through with the quads and 3As. No wonder Satoko is working with Ghislain and Wakaba supposedly didn't go to Orser because she was in a hurry to conquer the 3A and not waste time building skills from the ground up for a two years in Brian's famous method he brags about.

I think Chock and Bates would like to go out on a good performance--their FD at the Olympics was so sad. They're 26 and 29, so they've got a couple of years left as ice dancers.

The senior ladies have only a year or two before the whole field's overtaken by the baby quadsters the way things are going. Probably Bradie Tennell's best shot to get on the world podium. Or any American woman until Alysa Liu grows up.

R95 Stepanova/Bukin should make the GP Final. They will win Finnish GP now. And their second is at home at Rostelecom with only Chock/Bates (probably not at the top form) as main contender.

The Italians are the one benefitting from C/B withdrawl because they are also at Helsinki. It may not be enough for them but they are contenders now. They need to finish second this week at Skate America though

I see Gilles/Poirier and Sinistina/Katslapov are in the same GPs

French GP have P/C, G/P, S/K and Hawayek/Baker

One between Guignard/Fabbri and Zagorski/Guerreiro will make the GPF. Maybe both

[quote]So probably--P/C, H/D, W/P, G/P.

R95, I thought Weaver/Poje aren't doing the GP this year?

R101 yes, no GP for W/P

P/C, H/D, S/B, G/P...and 2 more

I would have said S/K but they have some tough GPs while G/F and Z/G have easier competition

Aru Tateno (arutateno) of Fukase/Tateno is going to do a livestream on instagram on Saturday between 14:00-15:00, but I don’t know if that’s Japan time or Montreal time. He wants to explain some things. Hopefully no bad news…

Does anyone have a livestream link for Minsk arena ice star?

Last year Minsk was a Challenger and they had no live stream at all.

I fear we won't get anything this year given it has been demoted. But maybe they will surprise us....

but at least they are updating the results page live

Junior Ice Dance is on now

Senior Ice Dance is tonight.

Rhythm Dance in Minsk

1) Tessari/Fioretti 63.46

2) Evdomikova/Bazin 61.26

3) Turkilla/Versulius 60.39

4) Kublikova-Hulitisky 56.88

5) Shakun/Ragimov 49.54

6) Bunina/Frolov 47.24

7) Zdravkova/Davis 41.31

T/F win TES (technical controller is Halina Gordon Poltarek from ISU Technical Committee, Specialists are former British ice dancer Candice Towler Green and Belarus Julia Komleva) convincingly but ranked third in PCS.

E/B (only 4th in TES) win PCS (panel composed by Russia, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Israel and Kazakhstan).

Decisions by ISU Council

Grand Prix 2019

October 18-20, 2019 Skate America

October 25-27, 2019 Skate anada

November 1-3, 2019 France

November 8-10, 2019 Cup of China hina (to be confirmed)

November 15-17, 2019 Russia

November 22-24, 2019 Japan

December 5-8, 2019 Junior and Senior Grand Prix Final, Strasbourg, France (to be confirmed)

___________

Junior GP

August 21-24, 2019 Courchevel, France

August 28-31, 2019 Lake Placid, USA (including Pair Skating)

September 4-7, 2019 Riga, Latvia

September 11-14, 2019 Chelyabinsk, Russia (including Pair Skating)

September 18-21, 2019 Gdansk, Poland (including Pair Skating)

September 25-28, 2019 Zagreb, Croatia (including Pair Skating)

October 2-5, 2019 Egna, Italy

____

2019 Challenger Series will feature Pairs on in selected events (5 out of 10) to avoid situations like this year with some events with too few entries

____________

Appointments to ISU Technical Committees, after consultations with Technical Committee and ISU Vice President

Skaters appointed: John Coughlin (Single and Pairs), Alper Ucar (Ice Dance)

Coaches appointed: Patrick Meier (Single and Pairs), Maurizio Margaglio (Ice Dance)

___

Minimum TES scores for 2019 Worlds, Euros, 4 Continents and Junior Worlds have been set.

Official Livestream for the Holloween Cup in Budapest for those interested

When does international medalist Jimmy Ma skate this weekend?

10/19/18 - 19:30:00 US time for Pairs - 21:00:00 US time for Men's Short Program - I guess this is Pacific time? So, 9 pm in Seattle, Everett, or wherever they are. And Junior 2013-14 Bronze Medalist, Mr. Jimmy Ma goes first!

What a magnificent lineup!! The Americans know how to put on an skating extravaganza, don't they? I guess that's why FS is doing so fucking well in the USA. No wonder Finland GP said you have to give us the Oly champs or no way are we gonna waste our time and money. Well, Skate America does have the World Champion from Splatfest Milano 2018. And the Ladies feature Tennell, Miyahara, Sakamoto, Honda... The excitement is mounting...

Skating order Men SP: Ma, Yee, Ponsart, Brezina, Reynolds, Nguyen -- BREAK -- Zhou, Kvitalashvili, Rizzo, Chen, Voronov, Bychenko

Sara Honda is competing in Novice A nationals this weekend. Ishikawa was the technical specialist for Kinki regionals. Here’s a video of Sara’s interview and performance (with a 3Lz+3T) at Kinki with Miyu looking on:

R112 Poor Marin is destined to be overshadowed by all her younger sisters.

Halloween Cup

Ladies SP 1) Toth 53.5 2) Paganini 53.21 3) Sorensen 52.41 4) Brezinova 50.64 5) Ostlund 48.08

Men SP 1) Kerry 70.3 2) MASZLJANKO 50.19 3) Newberry 55.47 4) Loupolover 52.25 5) McAllister 52.17

MINSK

Dance Final 1) Evdomikova/Bazin 168.12 2) Turkilla/Versluis 159.51 3) Tessari/Fioretti 157.46

Ladies SP 1) Serna 60.75 2) Vandersaaren 55.98 3) Ryabova 55.67 4) Algotsson 53.47 5) Galustyan 52.19 6) Williams 50.95

Tango Romantica in Budapest

1) Ynavoskaya/Lukacs 64.17

2) Alison Reed and Lithuanian dude 61.80

3) Koch/Nuchtern 60.75

4) Wagret/Souquet 60.64

5) Moscheni/Fabbri 58.64 (minimum TES for Worlds reached, they are likely to fill Italy's third spot at Worlds)

6) Urban/Steffen 58.25

7) Jakucs/Galli 55.54

8) Manni/Roethlisberger 49.95

Chris Knierim is the hottest guy in FS.

God is watching you

From a distance

From Cleveland

There's a Halloween cup? Where, why?

And looking forward to Skate America--nice line-up. I may even check out pairs.

And why isn't it on Halloween?

[quote] There's a Halloween cup? Where, why?

In Budapest. Then in December Budapest will host the Christmas Cup (Senior) and the Santa Claus Cup (Novice)

Pairs SP at Minsk Ice Star

1) Ziegler/Kiefer 64.16

2) Pavlyuchenko/Khodkyn 63.58

3) Barqueo/Maestu 61.0

4) Petranovic/Souza-Kordeiru 52.47

5) Ghilardi/Ambrosini 51.10

See, Orbán isn't all bad.

Miyahara and Sakamoto collided and fell during practice while Miyahara's music was playing. Both appeared to be fine and went back to practicing.

Hmmm, maybe Bradie has little Miyahara and Sakamoto voodoo dolls and banged them together.

World Team Trophy info is out. April 11 - 14 at Fukuoka Convention Center. Apparently the contact numbers are incorrect.

Aru Tateno is retiring due to injury.

any news on Muramato and potential partners?

Nathan's SP was pretty sloppy for him, still better than everyone else's. Like it though--he actually pretended he was enjoying himself. Hell, maybe he was.

Vincent Zhao got killed by URs. Yikes.

Panel was quite hard (Scott Davis and Ikuko Ishikawa were the callers. Lise Jensen as controller) wit URs and unclear edges

Chen's 4F called UR and with unclear edge

Yee's 3F unclear edge

Rizzo's 3F wrong edge

Zhou: 4Lz UR, 4F UR and unclear edge, 3A UR

Ma's 3F unclear edge

Ponsart's 3Lz UR

Nguyen's 3 Lz unclear edge

Reynolds: 4S UR, 4T downgraded, 3A downgraded

PAIRS (Controller: Anna Sierocka; Specialists: Soltan Kokoev, Veronique Fleury) also had URs called for everyone except the Germain pairs.

The French guy’s costume is Cizeron’s Mozart one. And, yes, our sweetheart Guillaume is his choreographer, too.

Ponsart's doing Carmen as FS. Also choreographed by Cizeron

r129 No, but her IG is public again and she's deleted all photos of Reed (except for a couple of group photos) and messages to fans.

Meanwhile, Reed went to Montreal last week (and still might be there) where Fukase/Tateno train.

Minks Ladies

Ekaterina Ryabova 162.53

Lea Serna 153.38

Camilla Gjersem 144.08

Anastasia Galustyan 144.01

Isadora Williams 142.51

Charlotte Vandersaaren 142.49

Matilda Algottson 140.97

etc with

Ryabova is a Junior from Russia who is skating for Azerbajian. She finished 6th in both her Junior GP events this season. In Minsk she achieved Senior TES for Worlds.

R134 thanks. Given it seemed she was the one starting the split, I thought she may have had a partner in mind

Abachkina retires

She teamed up with Drodz but it looks like Russia and France couldn't agree on a release

Zhou's coach told him "the curse is over!" while he was waiting for his scores.

Then he saw his TES and the curse was back!

Today's results from International Senior B

MINSK

Ladies

1) Ryabova (Azerbaijan) 162.53

2) Serna (France ) 153.38

3) Camilla Gjersem (Norway) 144.08

4) Galustyan (Armenia) 144.01

5) Williams (Brazil) 142.51

Pairs

1) Ziegler/Kiefer (Austria) 178.57 (by the protocol I would say they fell before the last lift)

2) Barquero/Maestu (Spain) 166.15t

3) Pavlyuchenko/Khodykin (Russia) 161.03 (judging by GOEs she fell on one throw and both fell on the combo)

Men SP

1) Rrznichenko (Poland) 76.49

2) Vasiljevs (Latvia) 74.52 (2 Under-rotations called and only a 2+3 combo)

3) Vladimir Litvintsev (Azerbajan) 72.78

4) Lukas Britschgi (Switzerland) 69.03

5) Beloharadsky (Czech Rep) 67.87

6) Hayrapetyan (Armenia) 67.75

HALLOWEEN CUP

Ladies

1) Paganini (Switzerland) 157.13

2) Ostlund (Sweden) 151.42

3) Toth (Hungary) 144.44

4) Gennaro (Italy) 142.11

5) Brezinova (Czech Republic) 140.92

Men

1) Kerry (Australia) 204.22

2) Newberry (Great Britain) 178.24

3) Maszljanko (Hungary) 168.25

Ice Dance

1) Yanovskaya/Lukacs (Hungary) 161.71

2) Reed/Ambrulevicius (Lithuania) 156.11

3) Koch/Nuchtern (Germany) 155.58

4) Wagret/Souquet (France) 154.37

5) Urban/Steffan (Germany) 151.89

Cain/LeDuc beat Knierim at Skate America

Knierims have split with Savchenko.

Tarasova/Morozov wins with 204.85 points.

Korovin is wearing something red over his shirt that makes the effect he is wearing a scarf. It doesn't look good. But it is enough for Silver (178.98)

Cain/Leduc third (175.06)

The Knierims (171.56), Hase/Seegert (162.10), Digerness/Neudecker (151.21), Hocke/Blommaert (144.53) and Walsh/Michaud (129.06)

Managed to see Tarasova/Morozov and Cain/LeDuc FS before they got pulled. Much better music/choreography this year--still in the early messy stages, but I'm going to enjoy pairs more than I thought. Saw the Knierem short--they have those killer elements, but they're so damn sloppy on other stuff. Wonder why they left Savchenko so quickly?

Nathan's haircut looks weird when he is doing his camel spins. He's looking a lot more grown-up now, though.

Skate America

1) Chen

2) Brezina

3) Voronov

yes, It is 2018/19 but we still have Brezina and Voronov

2014 was last time Brezina saw a GP podium.

4) Rizzo

5) Zhou

Whoa, just saw the Knierem FS--what a mess, a couple of beautiful things in it, but hell of a nasty fall and then a out-of-control stumble. Wonder what the fall-out with Aliona was about.

Does anybody know if the Knierems broke up with Aliona AT this event - or had they already parted ways?

The ESP guys said that the Knierims did a somewhat different program than the one originally submitted and seemed to know about the break-up--so break-up before the event, but very recent.

How many months has Savchenko been coaching them?

3 or 4 months ... very strange

R148 Thank you.

What was everyone laughing about while Samodurova was waiting in the K&C?

Johnny's outfit of the day:

R149 I quite like this outfit of his! Compared with his Olympic commentator outfits this is much much better...

R150 His outfits are certainly more interesting than the men's costumes.

The audience was also laughing while Miyahara was waiting in the K&C. What was going on? The ES stream I'm watching has no commentary.

I may speak too early, there is still the FS to do but Megan What's her name didn't humiliate herself. Given the potential, he is the US lady who performed better in the SP

I haven't watched Ice Dance yet...what has Hubbell/Donohue done this time?

Good old Yuri Balkov (who is judge number 5 in the pdf) was in shape last night . He tied Tiffany and Jonathan with H/D in PCS and almost did it also with Guignard/Fabbri (he gave Skating Skills to H/D by 0.25 and tied them in every other components).

So Nathan won worlds this year? Thats pretty cool

H/D’s RD is a boring mess, and I can’t believe that USFSA is pushing them very hard to challenge P/C’s status. Yeah, very hard is a pun. They are being pushed very hard and I find it very hard to understand their choreography.

Yes R153 - he beat 2nd place Shoma Uno by nearly 5 points! Boyang fell like five times and got NINE points deducted. Shoma had an injury and fell at least three times (4 points deducted). The final flight of men was a ghastly mess - I remember a shot of Bychenko in the green room with Shoma, still in the running, and he was looking at the camera and just shaking his head, like WTF?!?!? I don't think there's ever been a splatfest as bad as that one. Kolyada fell twice I think - Zhou had 4 points deduction (he went next to last) - just ai yi yi. The commentators were practically apologizing for the state of men's skating lol. This was also the comp where Zags fell apart and fell a lot (missing the podium).

But Nathan went last and fucking cleaned up after the previous carnage! (he said later he'd been following the results backstage - maybe following Jackie Wong who live updates what's going on with each skater's jumps - and just one month after his nightmare in Korea, he managed to hold himself together and kill it!!)

He was very sweet afterwards when asked about the huge differential in points and said Shoma was injured so that didn't mean anything at all - he had skated injured before and he knew what a toll that took. One of quite a few times I've really been impressed with what a nice guy Nathan is.

* Shoot - he beat Shoma by nearly 50 points - not 5. My damned keyboard is sticking.

McNamara/Carpenter got all key points. Is it the first this season?

R154 At US International I thought their FS was even more boring. Maybe it has improved

106 even with the Gibson's miskate on the twizzle?

She was lip syncing Donna Summer's Band Girl during the final slides....7.96 for Interpretation

Zagorski/Guerreiro barely hold the position against McNamara/Carpenter. Less than 1 point lead. Hit by 2 deduction

1) Hubbell/Donohue 200.82

2) Guignard/Fabbri 192.30

3) Zagorski/Guerreiro 181.38

4) McNamara/Carpenter 180.57

5) Lewis/Gibson 170.70

6) Kaliszek/Spodyriev 163.05

7) Muller/Dieck 158.11

8) Nazarova/Nikitin 156.16

9) Tweedale/Buckland 152.69

10) Manta/Johnson 139.33

Guignard/Fabbri are likely to make the GP Final now. Their second GP is Finland where Chock/Bates withdraw from giving G/F a good chance to get second place there too

Liked H/D's free dance this time, didn't like the earlier version, but this one worked. Agree that their rhythm dance isn't all that it could be, particularly as H/D can do sexy well. I think Madison's a stronger skater than Gabby, but I don't see them dethroning P/C this season unless something weird happens.

1) Miyahara 219.71

2) Sakamoto 213.90

3) Samodurova 198.70

4) Tennell 192.89

5) Lecavelier 172.41

6) Wessemberg 170.33

7) Tsurskaya 159.45

8) Honda 158.04

9) Chartrand 155.48

10) Andrews 150.56

Hendrickx withdrew for medical reason

In the end the only US lady to come home happy will probably be Megan Whatshername

Wow, so much for Tennell and the Grand Prix--this was supposed to be the easy competition.

R161 stop posting here yourself Madison Hubbell!

At least I can stand up on my skates

from the google translation of a German article posted on GS

Aliona Savchenko did not travel to the West Coast. She herself decided to split up, she told SZ Sunday: "I've helped as much as possible, but it turns out that we have different opinions about working on the ice."

The potential of the US pair runners Aljona Savchenko has also stressed again on Sunday. The work, she says, was "not enough": "I know the way to the goal, I opened the door for them, but they have to go through it alone." Aljona Savchenko did not exclude that they will work together again in the future.

[quote]The work, she says, was "not enough": "I know the way to the goal, I opened the door for them, but they have to go through it alone."

Translation: These lazy ass motherfuckers need to work harder.

End of story.

I think all skaters work hard, but you see a couple of them kick it up to the next level and they get the results--like Miyahara--certainly not the most naturally gifted in terms of things like jumps, but damn, she went after her underrotations and nailed every gesture and movement at Skate America.

Bradie's missed triple in the short pretty much cost her the bronze. It still seems to me that her stamina's not quite where it needs to be yet. I thought that at the Autumn Classic as well, even though she won there. That said, she's the only American lady right now who looks like she belongs at a Grand Prix competition. At this rate, I'm praying for some sort of miracle with Gracie Gold.

Wow, Marin Honda sure imploded during her FS, though not like Starr Andrews. Despite her ability to perform, I'm now convinced that Starr Andrews just isn't ready to play at that level. She lacks solid basic skating skills in the first place, if she loses her nerve and jumps, then she really has nothing, but a bunch of crossovers.

[quote]I'm now convinced that Starr Andrews just isn't ready to play at that level. She lacks solid basic skating skills in the first place, if she loses her nerve and jumps, then she really has nothing, but a bunch of crossovers.

Agreed. I think US Skating was so hungry for a breakout star, they prematurely pushed hard for Starr, ironically.

But someone should've intervened much earlier to fix her basics. Her edges, stroking and posture are very sloppy. Now that puberty is hitting, her basics aren't holding up her jumps anymore like they should.

The fact that she's even competing a triple axel, when she can't even fully rotate her other triples or correctly do a lutz on the outside edge, shows just how misguided her team is in addressing her shortcomings.

She's 17 now...it might be too late to correct.

It's certainly too late, if Starr and her team aren't even addressing the problem. She's more on her edges than she used to be, but that's about it and there are just so many other problems--training a triple axel is a huge waste of time when so many basics are missing.

I was thinking that this is probably Bradie's one chance to podium at Worlds before the little quadsters all emerge from juniors, but then, when I saw the Japanese at SA, I realized that everyone else in the top ranks is thinking the same thing.

I'm wondering if there are any non-Japanese, non-Russian ladies will even make the Grand Prix final. I'm thinking "no", unless a Korean girl squeaks through.

The U.S. should be able to get a pairs team through since the field's so weak right now, but not with performances like the Knierems.

So, I guess it's back to Nathan and ice dance.

Man, U.S. pairs are in such a sorry state right now. They were never threats for World Championships (except for Babilonia/Gardner), but they could occasionally end up on a World podium. Even with a weakened field, it's going to be hard to make Top 10. Reminds me of where U.S. Ice Dance was in the late 90s/early 00s, when the awful Lang/Tchernyshev won FOUR US titles. *SHUDDER*

In my opinion, the only U.S. pair right now that has any potential is Cain/LeDuc. Denney/Frazier showed some initially, but they've struggled with injuries and regressed. I cheer for Stellato/Bartholomay, because she's got a great backstory, but they're probably too old to develop into anything significant. The Knierems and Kayne/O'Shea are frankly uninspiring. Cain and LeDuc are the only ones who seem to have any excitement in their skating. If they stick together, maybe they could make it to Top 5 by 2022.

Oh how I long for the days of Kyoko Ina, Rockne Brubaker, etc.

You forgot about Meno and Sand. They actually won multiple World medals (seriously! I had to look it up).

I forgot Christina Carreira (of Carreira/Ponomarenko) is still a Canadian citizen. She tried to get priority VISA through the "alien of extraordinary ability" rule but the Immigration Service refused it. She is suing back.

[quote] when the awful Lang/Tchernyshev won FOUR US titles.

I won five consecutive titles!!

That was after 3 consecutive (and 5 overall) titles by Elizabeth Punsalan / Jerod Swallow

Meno/Sand were OK, but I preferred Ina and Dungjen and/or Zimmerman. It seems like they always ended up 4th or 5th at major competitions.

5 for Lang/Tchernyshev. Yuck. They were so uninspiring. They made Punsalan and Swallow look like Torvill and Dean.

Given how bad US ice dance was 20 years ago, it's amazing that the US has medalled at the past 4 Olympics.

Wasn't Lang the one who allegedly told Galit Chait in the locker room at Worlds 2002 "so how much has your dad paid for this medal?"?

Not super impressed with Hubbell/Donohue. To me, they're like the B version of Virtue/Moir. (We'll do a Baz Luhrmann song, too!) Same attempt at "sexy" chemistry. Just like V/M, they skate to the music...it doesn't go through them. They're performers...but they're not artists. They rely on the emotion of the music to give their program meaning.

H/D are performing Romeo & Juliet. And we know they're supposedly playing them because she dies in the end. (Just like Tessa!) How are we supposed to know that without the music? There was no drama...no arc...no character. All I saw was two skaters doing a bunch of moves on the ice.

People slag Gabriella Papadakis all the time for her skating. I don't think she deserves most of that. But, to me her greatest strength is in how she relates to Guillaume and communicates to the audience. If P/C were skating this exact program, we would fucking know they were Romeo & Juliet and in a passionate, but doomed, love affair. Hubbell/Donohue made me feel nothing. It was as beige as her fucking dress.

And ice dance still gets no love in the U.S.--you'd think there'd be something going on given how long Dancing with the Stars has been around and how attractive and personable the winning teams have been--wholesome Davis/White, the chirpy media-savvy ShibSibs and now grown-up sexy Hubbell/Donohue, but no . . .

US Pairs seem to lack ambition--Aliona pretty much said the Knierems weren't willing to push it farther. There's such an opening right now--no dominant pair on the GP circuit, three top pairs retired, one injured. This is the year for a team that wouldn't normally have a chance to have a chance. James/Cipres stuck around because of that. I wish the Knierems, who can do the tough stuff, would grind it 'til they got consistency, but nope. Okay, fingers crossed for Cain/LeDuc.

Hubbell/Donohue used to not interest me until I saw them in person--they're effective in person in a way that isn't caught onscreen. Gorgeous, charismatic, sexy in a way that fills the stadium. But you just don't see it on television. It's a completely different experience. And Madison is a stronger skater than Gabriella. That said, G and Cizeron have an interpretive ability and sense of nuance that's unique. Guillaume is up there technically as well, so I don't see H/D beating them, but that doesn't mean Gabriella's a top skater technically--the team's wise enough to play to its strengths--you're not going to see Davis/White acrobatic lifts from them.

I find H/D more authentic than Virtue/Moir. I don't think Romeo and Juliet is an ideal program for them, though it's better than it was. Madison is just too damn grown-up and Amazonian to play any version of a doomed teen-age girl.

Skate Canada looks more interesting than Skate America for Ice Dance

We have

Hubbell/Donohue again

Gilles/Poirier on homeground

Sinistina/Katsalapov who scored high at Nepela but may be a different story outside East Europe and they are not the most consistent team anyway

Junior Champion Skoptkova/Aleshin making their Senior debut

Smart/Diaz

Lauriault/Legac

Saucisse/Firus

Wang/Liu

and well Tweedale/Buckland and Sales/Wamsteeker to make up the number

I forgot all about the Galit Chait drama. Juicy stuff...

R179 You cannot stop talking how they are different live and we are all wrong. I heard that here many times already . Maybe R177 saw them live ? Do you really think that they re such awesome ? I dont think that what R177 is talking about could change after seeing them live. I agree with him that they are only performes , they want to be like Scott and Tessa(lol) and both teams dont interpret music, they are acting. And they are not good in it.

R181 It was 2002 right after the Olympics with the Pairs debacle

" Outraged, Bulgaria's Albena Denkova gathered the other ice dancers in the dining hall and together began composing an unprecedented petition supporting the Lithuanian protest as well as demanding a formal explanation from the International Skating Union, the sport's world governing body. By the next morning, close to 40 ice dancers and coaches had signed it, including Lang and the other three U.S. skaters.

What happened next is unclear.

Boris Chait, Galit's father, says his daughter was twice "harassed by other athletes" after the event, once in the locker room and again in the dining hall. Both times, he says, they asked Galit: "How much (did) you pay for the medal?"

Lang flatly denied that anyone would say that.

"She came to me and she was going into shock," Boris Chait says of his daughter. "The doctor had to calm her down and give her something to drink to prevent her from going into shock."

"I knew that (Zhulin) and other coaches were drinking in a hotel room, so I went there," Boris says. "I said, 'Talk to your athletes. They have no right to harass my daughter.' "

Toronto's The Globe and Mail, the only North American newspaper with a staff reporter in Nagano, quoted anonymous sources indicating the confrontation was extremely heated, that Boris kicked open the door and unleashed a tirade, including physical threats, on the half-dozen coaches in the room.

"He was screaming and his wife was trying to hold him back," a source told the newspaper. "He said a lot of bad things. I never saw anything like that."

Boris, who owns a computer company in New Jersey, denies making any threats.

...

The allegations of threats didn't end there. U.S. judge Sharon Rogers, who had ranked the Lithuanians second and the Israelis fourth, told The Globe and Mail that between 2:30 and 3 a.m. she received a phone call in her hotel room and a male voice said he would cut her head off. She hung up and went back to sleep.

...

who was the ABC female commentator at the time complaining about the scores at the end? You can hear the public starting to boo

I think that was Susie Wynne, who was always a pretty good commentator, in my opinion.

R185 thanks

R182, I didn't say a thing about anyone being wrong. What is what I said is that I changed my opinion of them after I saw them live. Seeing them live helped me see why B.ESP guys and the judges like H/D so much.

I don't think H/D are great actors, by the way and while there are similarities, I don't think they're Virtue/Moir and, as I said, I don't think they'll be acing out Papadakis/Cizeron.

You seem to be all huffy because I appreciate what Hubbell/Donohue can do and have noticed that Gabriella isn't the world's best ice dancer technically--this isn't news. Guillaume, on the other hand, may well be the best man around, the two look great together and they truly dance.

I don't understand the fan mentality of being blind to one skater's faults and pretending that the virtues of a rival skater being nonexistent.

I don't understand the fan mentality of being blind to one skater's faults and pretending that the virtues of a rival skater being nonexistent.

Wow I thought this is used to describe those crazy V/M fans when they are competing with P/C or even earlier D/W. And now I think calling H/D a B version of V/M is reasonable.

I miss Sui and Han a lot already. Love them.

R188, It's reasonable, but I don't agree with it. To me, H/D do their thing and do it well. V/M sort of flitted around and gushed about whatever it was they were doing at the time. Lots of skill, but no there there as artists. To me, H/D don't have a big expressive range, but, as I said above, I think they're authentic or more straightforward.

R189, you and me, both. Sui/Han were/are wonderful, I hope she can recover well enough so that they can skate again.

R187 what can H/D do? Being straightforward? (If 190 is also you) Are they being straightforward or just being shallow? Watching their performance is like someone forces me to eat a big piece of butter - totally greasy and oily. I won’t call acting so affectedly in every program as “authenticity”.

Another one here who misses Sui/Han. I miss Stolbova/Klimov, too. At least you knew they were capable of greatness.

I have not seen Hubbell/Donohue live, for whatever that's worth. I'm very curious how this season will play out. Looking back, we were a little blessed this past quad. Feel like we may have maxed out the drama. We had 2014-2015 with Virtue/Moir and Davis/White out. So we had Weaver/Poje as the frontrunners with Chock/Bates, Cappellini/Lanotte and the Shibs close behind when Papadakis/Cizeron exploded on the scene with Mozart. Then Gabriella had her concussion and they miss half the season and it's again Weaver/Poje with the others until P/C win Worlds. And then we had two seasons of Virtue/Moir vs. P/C.

If P/C skate like they have the past four years, no one in this field can touch them. And with the Shibs, Chock/Bates and Weaver/Poje not competing in the Grand Prix it's not even that competitive for medals. It's basically down to who wins Bronze...Stepanova/Bukin or Gilles/Poirier? Funny that R179 mentioned P/C's lifts, because that is something they are supposedly working on for this season. More dynamic lifts. Hope they also have a new spin to show us -- I'm sick of that other one.

Meanwhile, have Virtue/Moir officially retired yet? They haven't, right? At this point, you know those fuckers are going to come back for 2020 Worlds in Montreal. Why wouldn't they?

I'd be very surprised if H/D were competitive for the gold with P/C. I just don't see it, but P/C can definitely stand to work on the lifts and another spin.

And, wow, what a bland Grand Prix--unless there's a disaster how is it not going to be P/C, followed by H/D? Guess I'll root for Gilles/Poirier to get bronze--that new FS is lovely and they do their own thing, so props for originality.

And, please, no more Virtue/Moir--done, done, done with them. And, yeah, you're right, they might re-emerge for Montreal Worlds.

R187, I've already described what H/D were like when I saw them in person. You don't see it, don't really see the point of going back and forth about this.

[quote]And, please, no more Virtue/Moir--done, done, done with them. And, yeah, you're right, they might re-emerge for Montreal Worlds.

God, if I have to watch another season of those two spasming all over the ice, thinking they look sexy doing so...I will gouge my eyes out. I would be the happiest skating fan alive if these two overrated hams never stepped foot on competitive ice again. Good riddance!

It's sad after 2 years of "Virtue is much better than Gabi", we will have "Hubbell is much better than Gabi" ... Soon we will pity Guillaume to have to skate with her . Nobody talks about her qualities (she's the best in interpretation) ... We criticize her or make fun of her (people laughed at her during the SD of the Olympic Games ... not a lot of skaters would have finished the program, but she continued as if nothing had happened.) Guillaume is not world champion alone ... Gabi also deserves it and it is also thanks to her

R195 So we should make a list of “ lady who is better than Gabi”, maybe even Stepanova can find a place in that list, too! And to someone who keeps blah blah blah “how H/D is amazing when being seen live/in person”, unfortunately, I have to say so, I’ve seen P/C live at the rink. And they were so fucking amazing that they blew the whole arena’s audience away.

Since this season, they call levels for twizzles and step sequence separately for men and women

At Skate America all teams had the same level for man and woman in the twizzles in the RD. In the FD it was the same except for Fear/Gibson (but he had a visible loss of balance)

Step sequences, on the other hand, saw more differences

Only Fear/Gibson (level 3), Tweedale/Buckland (level 2) and Manta/Johnson (level 2) had both partners at same level.

Hubbell/Donohue, Guignard/Fabbri, Zagorski/Guerreiro and Muller/Dieck had the woman at level 3 and the man at level 2.

McNamara/Carpenter and Kaliszek/Spodyriev had the man at level 3 and woman at level 2.

Nikitin got level 3 while Nazarova was at level 1

Key point on Tango Romantica

Madison got 2 out of 5. Zach 3 out of 3

Guignard got all. Fabbri 1 out of 3

Zagorski 4 ouf of 5. Guerrero 2/3

McNamara and Carpenter got all of them

Fear got 1 out of 5. Gibson 2/3

Tim Dieck and Joe Johnson didn't hit any key points

R187 What Gabriella has to do with it? I didnt say anything about Gabriella. And yes, if you wanna know she is NOT the best technically female ice dancer nowadays. I a not a blind , biased stupid fan. and I dont pretend that Gabriella is amazing . blablabla How did you bring that out of my post???? You think i got angry because you mentioned Gabriella? Grow up. I am not a stupid canadian. I just say that you sound that you are only one here who saw them live and then we would change our minds.I saw them live and i didnt.

IF V/M are gonna come back in 2020 in montreal. Well they are losers, they know that Skate Canada will fix it for them

V/M are not even skating this season...

I love P/C's skating but why must their fans here be so fucking unhinged about V/M ( or H/D?)

*waiting for some troll post to call me a Canadian frau* because how original...

R201 You must be kidding me . So it is the pc fans fault?? Are you insane? So sorry you are not so sensitive about unhinged ubers of V/M.

V/M fans are most annoying ubers i have ever seen. So if V/M are not EVEN skating this season, why their ubers say that ONLY reason P/C are gonna win now is because v/M are out. They are not gonna dissapear. So please, tell that bullshit elsewhere ok? Because even P/C thread on FSunivers is possesed by their ubers. I thought that site in neutral . It is not. There are no place we fans can talk about them freely, actually.

Calm the fuck down, R202 and have some tea. Jesus.

I went to Skate America, but the days were so long and I'm so exhausted that a lot of it was kind of a blur. In ladies, I enjoyed Kaori much more than Satoko - I'll never understand the fuss over the latter. Samodurova was good, but I can't stand that tacky Burlesque program. Nathan's PCS is way too high in my opinion. He looks really sloppy (lol at the people who go on about his ballet training), and his SS are not great. I remember people complaining about Javi's scores as World champ, but Javier skates like a dream compared to Nathan. That said, Nathan clearly deserved to win and he wasn't as boring as I used to find him on TV. What else...Cain/Leduc were a pleasant surprise to me, as someone who generally hates US pairs. They still have their issues, of course, but they have great energy, a unique look, and I definitely believe in them more than I do in the Knierems. I loved their SP. Ice dance is not my thing, but I enjoyed the Brits' disco program and Nazarova/Nikitin. H/D were good, but they didn't blow me away. Worst/cringiest program was the cancer one from the Germans...yuck!

R203 You calm down , uber and stop bore us with that p/c fans and v/m fans topic. i am enough of this shit. Blame someone else, not p.c fans all the time. You have always the reason.

R204 , Mishin girls have the same type of programs...lots of posing/face in between the jumps with no quality transitions

Hanul Kim is Kostner's replacement at Finnish GP

French GP still has a vacant slot

R204, Thanks for the report. Easy win for Nathan, but that was intention. I agree with you about Kaori--really enjoyable skater who seems to get kind of ignored when people talk about the Japanese Ladies, but has come through more than once. Satoko has nice skating skills, but I wish her jumps were buoyant.

R195, I'm the one who likes H/D and I've also said nice things about P/C--yes, including Gabriella. I've also said that I don't think H/D has a chance of beating P/C. I like both teams--and Gilles/Poirier. Chock/Bates and some of the younger teams as well. Was never a fan of Virtue/Moir, hope they get some big contract somewhere and don't come back in 2020.

But if you feel better defending Gabriella's honor--go ahead.

R208 feel better? defending honour? YOu are accusinf people of being biased without any reason , being hysterical like a little child . Your post R187 was hilarious. " You seem to be all huffy because I appreciate what Hubbell/Donohue can do and have noticed that Gabriella isn't the world's best ice dancer technically" LOL "I don't understand the fan mentality of being blind to one skater's faults and pretending that the virtues of a rival skater being nonexistent. " Bigger LOL

R209 is off her meds.

R210 You are , troll. Die, please

R211/R209/R202/R199 is indeed off meds. I blocked that moron

R122 Dont pretend that you are someone else then R210.

LOL The Adam Rippon thread on Goldenskate was closed. Of course, my comment calling him an attention whore was deleted... I did like his skating, but honestly, this trying to be a celebrity schtick is so tiring. And the "Satoko had BDE at Skate America" comment? Seriously? I kind of agree with Dave Lease there... it's just tacky.

214 David Lease can only wish to be paid a compliment like that.

Possibly, R215... but really, Adam tries too hard.

R212, I did as well, though the thread showed some response I couldn't see, so I looked it up. It thinks we're the same person. Whatever. Should be fun once P/C actually skates this season.

So Hanyu's not doing the GP, right? So Nathan's big competition will be Shomo? Javier? Possible Russian guy?

Adam Rippon is the definition of "attention whore". Wish him well, but he needs to start thinking about his life as a nonceleb. Johnny Weir's already grabbed the commentator spot. Adam would need a real Olympic medal to have a chance to oust him from it.

R218, Johnny, at least has more intelligence than Adam does... even though he and Tara seem to think they are the show, according to comments I've seen on the SA coverage

[quote]Johnny Weir's already grabbed the commentator spot.

He jumped on that shit fast.

That prima donna was never going to be anything other than a skating has-been, and ended up securing the one job that kept him somewhat relevant in the skating world and keep his lavish lifestyle without having to do any real work--like go to school or earn a real living.

R220, don't know about lavish, apparently Johnny and Tara stayed at the Hampton Inn for Skate America... the horror!!

What, R217? Javier is not doing the GP. Hanyu is scheduled for both the Finland GP and Rostelecom GP. By Russian guy, do you mean Kolyada or Aliev? They're both possible contenders, along with Japanese #2 man Shoma Uno.

R221 They were in frickin' Everett. The Hampton Inn was probably the high end there.

I saw some of the NBC Skate America coverage. Johnny is okay, but Tara just yacks and yacks, pointlessly through the programs. The great thing about ice dancing is that you get Tanith Belbin White and she doesn't talk the whole damn time.

Yeah, R223...they should just have Tanith and Ben Agosto do all the Ice Dancing. They're good separately...they're good together. They obviously can work with each other. Love them.

The great thing about the GP Series is that it really is bang bang bang. You have something every week until the Finals. But Ice Dance truly feels on hold until P/C skate. So P/C's RD will be to Gidon Kremer. Here's one of the songs...it's so fucking good and I can totally see them kicking ass with this.

So that's the tango? Yes, that will suit P/C well--it's in that moody, evocative wheelhouse of theirs.

I'm curious about Gabriella's costumes this season--something tells me there will be multiple ways of keeping it up.

This is the other piece. For a change of tempo, I would assume they're using this for the fast sections. (The beginning and then around 3:40.) A definite contrast to the more romantic "Oblivion."

As for costumes, at the French Masters there were only a couple of shots that leaked of the warm-up. She was wearing all black. (I think they both were, but I'd have to go back and look.) But who knows if those were the actual outfits?

Miyahara updated her blog about Skate America: ameblo. jp /satoko-miyahara/entry-12414323921.html

It’s East-Japan sectionals from today. Higuchi, Honda, and Hanyu won’t be there, but junior men should be exciting with Koshiro Shimada (I'm actually not sure he will be there), Shun Sato, Yuma Kagiyama, and Kao Miura. Fuji is streaming the opening ceremony in 30 minutes on IG:

People have been saying Adam's "fifteen minutes" are over since February, but it hasn't happened yet as normally happens with athletes. He really is smart, do you really think a stupid person could have made a name of himself in the Olys and keep the momentum going as he did? This world is a better place with Adam Rippon in it and I wish him a long career in the spotlight.

P/C’s RD was choreographed by Christopher Dean. He was also Z/G’s choreographer ( both RD n FD). I actually don’t find Z/G’s FD that horrible as what YouTube commenters think. Maybe because I started to wonder if this dance was originally made for P/C (if it did they would make it a superb Blues program for sure). It’s not Dean’s fault maybe, but Z/G’s lack of technical ability and their poor performing.

ISU Vice President Lakernik has commented on Zhou's coach comments...

"Zakraysek is a good coach, a professional, and his emotions are understandable in this case. But video replayers in figure skating exist, and in full, everyone can see them - the judges and the audience, the system is completely transparent. The only thing what I would agree with in this case is a remark on the quality of these video replays, which needs to be improved. "

What he had in mind was probably "Tom Z is an emotional drama queen, but we will improve the quality of the reply, so everything can see even better how many URs Vincent has"

R212 . My dear Mr R208 posted to R195 in that post. . he /she didnt answer . You both pretending your love for P/C i find hilarious

Sorry Not R212. It is R217. I had a busy night :)

[quote]People have been saying Adam's "fifteen minutes" are over since February, but it hasn't happened yet as normally happens with athletes. He really is smart, do you really think a stupid person could have made a name of himself in the Olys and keep the momentum going as he did? This world is a better place with Adam Rippon in it and I wish him a long career in the spotlight.

He's just a judge on Dancing With The Stars Jr, lol. He is destined to be a D-lister at best, forever.

Did Zakrajsek delete the follow-up to his post about Zhou's jumps? I think he had a quote from an international judge, but I don't see that second post on his Facebook anymore.

SP Skate Canada Pairs

1) James-Cipres 74.51

2) Peng-Jin 72.0

3) Moore Towers-Marinaro 71.26

4) Boikova-Kozlovskii 64.57

5) Aleksandrovskaya-Windsor 60.77

6) Walsh-Michaud 59.59

7) Ruest-Wolfe 57.53

8) Denney-Frazier 55.31

Zach Donohue looks yummy tonight...

Nobunari Oda and Deniss Vasiļjevs (not surprising given Lambiel will be there) have been added to Christmas on Ice. Musical guests are Miho Fukuhara, Keisuke Murakami, and The Glory Gospel Singers.

Christmas on Ice promo video (with Davis/White and Lambiel):

Tuktamysheva leading at Skate Canada. Medvedeva skating in the first group tomorrow.

And just like that...the air starts to go out of the Gilles/Poirier "this is their time" balloon. She gets too close to the boards during the tango and falls. Not a wipeout...they're in hold so she just basically does the splits. But they are in 6th place. Not just behind Hubbell/Donohue and Sinitsina/Katsalapov but also behind Smart/Diaz, Lauriaut/Le Gac (who danced to the Cell Block Tango and Roxie!!!) and even .01 behind Wang/Liu. (Ouch.) And the thing is...it wasn't just the fall. That routine just isn't very good. They're doing the drama kid thing again. Paul's grown out his mustache. They are being so, so serious and trying so, so hard. And their dance is so, so fucking boring.

This is their home tournament. They're supposed to be winning Silver here. Yet they're almost 8 points behind the Russians in 2nd place. Is it possible they can make that up? Yes. If S/K totally bomb...which is possible. But, frankly, Piper fucking up again is just as likely. If G/P skate well, they will probably win Bronze. But what this has shown me is that the skating powers that be still do not see Gilles/Poirier as a top team. It will be very interesting to see what their FD score is. They got 116.72 at Nebelhorn...an event that scored them 10+ points higher in the RD than they just got at home. They need to get at least that to even be in the conversation for the rest of the season.

P/C and H/D are guaranteed to be in the GPF. Stepanova/Bukin should win Helsinki and Russia...they're in. Guignard/Fabbri are heavily favored to win Silver in Helsinki. They're in. Zahorski/Guerreiro already have a Bronze. They've got a real good shot at Silver at NHK where their closest rival is Hawayek/Baker. If they get a Silver/Bronze it means that Gilles/Poirier have to beat Sinitsina/Katsalapov here or in France. Does anybody think that's a good bet?

Finally, the kiss and cry did not disappoint. Carol Lane kept mugging to the camera on how they need a bigger rink. But when the scores came up her eyes flashed and she had some serious bitch face. Piper just kept staring at the scores in disbelief..."What?" Maybe later on Twitter they'll blame this on Russia, too.

Should have stuck with Vanessa, Paul.

Of the three 'young guns' that were supposed to dominate the Olympics, I like Jin the best - at least he looks like he loves skating for itself. Uno always throws a lot of intensity at it, like it's something he needs to do, but there haven't been many times (maybe that WTT one a while back where he threw everything at it) where he looks like he actually likes it. And Chen may be a nice guy and good at jumps, but skates like an accountant collecting points like tax bills, and I get the feeling he really expected to have the OGM and not be expected to keep going.

But hell, ice is slippery, come 2022 they could all three be passed by someone new...

Eastern Japan Sectionals Junior Pair (SP):

1 Riku Miura/Shoya Ichihashi 43.29 (23.69+21.60)

Slighty better than Linz, but much worse than Richmond. They're the only pair, but they still have to skate. I know one of you here is an Ichihashi fan.

Junior Ladies (SP):

1 Tomoe Kawabata 58.69 (34.13 + 24.56)

2 Rion Sumiyoshi 57.32 (33.28 + 24.04)

3 Yuna Aoki 55.89 (31.21 + 24.68)

Junior Men (SP):

1 Shun Sato 71.35 (40.40 + 30.95)

2 Koshiro Shimada 64.50 (33.00 + 33.50)

3 Kao Miura 63.88 (34.13 + 29.75)

Shimada, JGP finalist, fell on the 3A and 3Lz3T. Still waiting for judges scores.

I like G/P's free skate, but that rhythm dance is a dud. And, yeah, it's not just the fall; it's slow, awkward and not very tight. They need a new coach instead of someone who keeps making excuses. There's a huge contrast between their tango and that of Hubbell/Donohue. H/D aren't doing anything spectacular, but it's fast, tight and dead-on when it comes to unison and the little movements.

So H/D just need to stay upright for the free and they'll be into the grand prix before P/C has even stepped on the ice.

Medvedeva down in seventh--wow, that old consistency is gone. Eliza Tuk looking slutty for the Cellblock tango and then delivering that lofty softly landed 3A--slightly incongruous, but, hey, congrats.

And so much for Jason Brown--11th place.

What's the "Blame Russia" thing about?

R243 Carol Lane (Gilles/Poirier's coach and commentator on Canadian tv) during Rostelecom Cup last year when she was commenting on TV and saw Stepanova/Bukin's, Bobrova/Soloviev's and Gilles/Poirier's scores, she went on with comments "well, it is Russia"

Carol Lane is a known idiot. So it is something you would expect from her

The Ice Dance judges are

Technical Controller: Julia Andreeva from Russia

Technical Specialists: Francesca Fermi of Italy (she skated in late 90s) and Grigory Elek from Hungary (he was around a decade ago, his brother was better)

Judges: Canada, Israel, Great Britain, Netherlands, Kazakhstan, Russia, USA, Spain and France

I think only Canada and Spain scored G/P higher than S/K in PCS

Jason Brown is an embarrassment to skating.

Here you go, R243. An example of Carol Lane's snide bullshit. Even Dmitri Soloviev responded and publicly called her out for this. The Canadians are so crazy when they commentate Ice Dance. Yet even with all of her "Well, it's Russia" digs...it still isn't as nasty as she and Kurt Browning can get with Papadakis/Cizeron. They've spent the last 4 years being downright disrespectful towards them. All because they leapfrogged over Weaver/Poje and threatened Virtue/Moir. It will be very interesting to see how the French are treated this season...especially if G/P and W/P aren't in the medal hunt.

Back to the "Well, it's Russia"...it wasn't just Carol Lane. Piper also stepped into it not just by her kiss and cry reaction but by making continued passive aggressive digs on Twitter about their scores. It's the thing I dislike the most about Piper -- the entitlement. She thinks she's better than she is. And stomps her feet publicly on social media so her fans will tell her how amazing she is. Their Beatles SD was great and fun. Their tango from a couple of years ago was very good. But, historically, she's a clunky skater. And their energy as a couple is so forced. They are trying so hard. It's not unlike Kaitlyn Weaver. She wanted to win so badly...and that energy started to take over their programs. You could see it.

Gilles/Poirier need to ditch Carol Lane and go to Marina. They should have done it this year when she was Shib-less and didn't have any top teams. Time is quickly running out. If they can't make the GPF, they're not medalling at Worlds. They won't even be in the final flight.

Mind you, Rostelecom Cup is known for his scores

But Skate Canada is not better. So it is not that these comments were puzzling, buy coming from her they sounded ridicolous

Maybe G/P would be doing better if someone could take personal responsibility and admit that they just fucked up. It seems like a very Canadian thing to always look for some external excuse - drove me nuts about PChan, too. It's too bad because I find G/P one of the more likeable ID teams.

oh oh, Peng/Jin managed to stay ahead of Moore Towers/Marinaro by 0.2

I think they downgraded the second jump of the combo to Marinaro.

Peng was her usual weak self in SBS jumps. They went for 2 Salchow as solo jump. And she messed the combo doing only 3+1. Well, at least she didn't fall

James/Cipres will win a by a mile

James/Cipres clean

Free Skating 147.30 Overall 221.81

if they skate like this, they can beat Tarasova/Morozov even if the Russians are clean

1) James/Cipres 221.81

2) Peng/Jin 201.08

3) Moore Towers/Marinaro 200.93

4) Boikova/Kozlovskii 196.54

5) Walsh/Michaud 172.53

6) Denney/Frazier 170.22

7) Alexandrowskaya/Windsor 166,95

8) Rueste/Wolfe 162.16

Marina would be a good coach for P/G--she knows how to build programs that don't rely on a team having romantic chemistry. It's weird to me that Marina doesn't have a top team right now because her track record is pretty amazing. But it's all Marie-France all the time right now.

R249, You may have a point--Virtue/Moir and their fans blamed Marina when Davis/White started beating them. Way back when, Elvis Stojlko did his share of whining as well.

Piper, Kathryn Weaver and Madison Hubbell all used to sort of run together for me. Weaver and Hubbell still sort of do, but Weaver/Poje kind of droop more than H/D do. Weaver/Poje sort of skate depressed.

Is Marina done for this season?

I think even the Lithuanian Reed has gone from Canton to Germany to prepare the GP season

I read something on Golden Skate about Marina moving to Florida, so is she retiring? She's 62, not that old for a skating coach.

It's just strange that she has no prominent skaters after getting two teams to gold and one to bronze.

Hubbell/Donohue win Gold. Sinitsina/Katsalapov win Silver. Gilles/Poirier win Bronze. They all scored over 120 within half a point of one another. The Russians actually won the FD because H/D messed up a lift.

So I've been slagging G/P all over this thread but this is a great FD for them. It is really a showcase for Paul and feels like a flashback to Crone/Poirier. More musical...more flow...less theatre. They even recycle their opening from the end of Crone/Poirier's Eleanor Rigby. But he is flying all over that rink and it is the sexiest and most confident I've seen him skate. He needs to be like this all the time. S/K's program really shows off Nikita, too. It's a little messy...but he's able to bring such energy. I think they're real medal contenders this season. Hubbell/Donohue were better than at Skate America...much more emotive.

H/D qualify for the GPF. The only thing that should concern them is that the FD scores were so close. 120 seems to be the max score the judges have given so far. Let's see what Stepanova/Bukin and P/C get. S/K should be happy. They're almost guaranteed a trip to the GPF. Even if G/P beat them in France, they'd beat Zahorski/Guerreiro in the tiebreak. And G/P should be happy with that FD performance and score. But they still need to find a way to win Silver in France or it won't really matter.

It’s Skate Canada! And of course our FD deserves a 120! In fact we deserve a gold!

Yeah, I like G/P's free dance a lot--I hadn't seen their RD 'til last night--it's almost like they're two different teams. The FD is terrific and evocative and that RD is a dud. Hope they fix it before the next go 'round. Hubbell/Donohue, on the other hand, are skating well enough, but that FD isn't really right for them, but maybe they're trying to expand their range. It's the sort of thing P/C could do well, though I think they have little interest in rehashing particular characters that way.

Eastern Japan Sectionals Junior Pair (Final): 1 Riku Miura/Shoya Ichihashi 131.34 (FS: 88.05) Not sure if they will be competing against anyone at nationals. They were the only pair in 2016. There were two pairs last year, but I’m not sure what happened to the other couple.

Junior Ladies (Final):

1 Tomoe Kawabata 173.55 (FS: 114.86)

2 Rion Sumiyoshi 163.62 (FS: 106.30)

3 Mone Chiba 152.65 (FS: 101.27)

Junior Men (Final):

1 Yuma Kagiyama 195.65 (FS: 132.51)

2 Shun Sato 194.05 (FS: 122.70)

3 Koshiro Shimada 185.66 (FS: 121.16) Shimada had three underrotations, including on 1Eu…

Seniors are still competing right now.

We’ll finally see Takahashi again at West Japan Sectionals next week. Uno, Tomono, Tanaka, Yamamoto, Miyahara, Sakamoto, Matsuda, Yamashita, Hongo, Shiraiwa, Mihara, Araki, Sumoto, Miyake, and Tsuboi won’t be there. Komatsubara/Koleto are also exempt, so only two dance couples, including new couple Kiria Hirayama/Axel Lamasse. Know anything about Lamasse?

Thanks to Takahashi’s return, the men’s FS will be broadcast live on Fuji Two. Broadcast starts at 15:30, but FS starts at 17:40, so it may catch the end of the women’s FS which comes before. The Honda brother will also be competing and maybe we’ll get to find out how much Raf is really involved in coaching him (or how much he’s slacking off practice).

No English page available yet, but here are the East Sectionals results:

Why there are people still believe that Cizeron is straight? Why?

R258 thanks for the update

Axel Lamasse used to skate for France. I guess he's French. He is quite young as he was still doing Junior GP in 2016

Interesting Components were very close between H/D and S/K

Actually British, Dutch, US (!) and Kazakh judges voted S/K over H/D in PCS

Spanish judge gave a 10 to G/P in Composition

I think

S/K are the ones who should come out of Skate Canada happier. Won FS and got second place. Score is high and they should win the tie break with 5 points

H/D ok. The FS score so close to others isn't great. They probably hoped to win that segment with a more comfortable lead

G/Pò They complicated their path to GPF. The FD score is positive though

Lauriault/Legac should feel satisfied. Smart/Diaz too, their Tango is working well.

Wang/Liu probably hoped to be closer to L/L and S/D

Tweedale/Buckland did well

Soucisse/Firus should be disappointed

Sales/Wamsteeker didn't finish last. So it is already a success

The Junior World Champions got lost but I think she has been injured this summer

R262 The younger Russian team was really nervous on ice especially during RD. (The pattern is also very difficult) They need time to adjust themselves from their jgp mode, I think. (Considering that they didn’t take part in any competitions before their GP debut)

R260 Thank you.

r259 Where did you even find people who think Cizeron is straight. Receipts please!

R265...The same Helen Keller school where people (on DL! In the Figure Skating threads!!) were questioning whether or not Paul Poirier was gay.

Skate Canada Dance Victory Ceremony

Leanna Caron makes an appearance to give out the medals and kiss Piper and Paul.

Katsalapov planted a kiss on the Russian technical controller's cheek

Didn't Cizeron come out on IG after the Olympics or was that someone else?

I just re-watched the Vancouver 2010 Original Dance when they did the Folk Dance

A young Paul Poirier was hot

Bobrova/Soliviev as Russian sailors....

Evan Bates doing a cow boy was quite cringeworthy

Anna Cappellini was red-head at the time

why the hell the Chinese duo did a Greek folk dance?

Props were allowed...the Reeds had a fan

Ah, I rememberted the country dance by Kerr/Kerr

I didn't remember the can can by Delobel/Schonfelder

Sadly I remembered the Domanna/Shabalin aboriginal thing

R269, yes, 18-year old Paul Poirier was hot at the 2010 Olympics.

He's still hot now.

Nice view of Paul from yesterday's Skate Canada:

PCS last night (if I've imputed correct figures in excel)

Judge 1 (Canada): Gilles/Poirier 56.7 Hubbell/Donohue 54.6 Sinistina/Katsalapov 54.0

Judge 2 (Israel): H/D 56.4 S/K 54.9 G/P 49.5

Judge 3 (Great Britain): S/K 55.5 H/D 53.4 G/P52.5

Judge 4 (Netherlands): S/K 54.0 G/P 51.9 H/D 51.0

Judge 5 (Kakakhstan): S/K 56.4 H/D 55.2 G/P 53.7

Judge 6 (Russia): H/D 56.1 S/K 56.1 G/P 55.8

Judge 7 (US): S/K 56.4 H/D 56.1 G/P 55.8

Judge 8 (Spain): G/P 57.9 H/D 55.2 S/K 53.7

Judge 9 (France): H/D 57.0 S/K 54.6 G/P 50.4

and yes, French judge really did it...he scored Lauriault/Legac (53.1) over G/P

British judge scored Olivia Smart 51.9

Israel judge scored Wang/Liu 49.2 when she gave G/P 49.5. Dutch judge went down to a 5.75 in Interpretation for W/L

French judge really did it...he scored Lauriault/Legac (53.1) over G/P

Fantastic. Canadians can do such things, so others as well

Man, the U.S. judge didn't put H/D first on the free, but Zach had a stumble, right?

I think the question about Paul Poirier being gay isn't about whether he's gay but how out he is--i.e. Cizeron's in a glass closet, Paul's seems to have more smoked glass.

Nicole Schott and Alexei Erokhov have withdrawn from Finland GP. I guess there is no time for replacing them

Daleman is out of NHK.

Leonova (who is still around) will replace Radionova at NHK

[quote]I think the question about Paul Poirier being gay isn't about whether he's gay but how out he is--i.e. Cizeron's in a glass closet, Paul's seems to have more smoked glass.

Does Paul have a boyfriend?

Who's getting that great ass?

Did I read it here or other forums that Porier used to date Tessa Virtue? And Gilles was dating Scott Moir that time as well??

What rumor are you referring to, R276?

Both Yajima and Shimazaki have been amicable about their split on social media, but while Yajima wrote just a few words, Shimazaki released a full statement indicating they separated over differences in what direction each wanted to take. It was already suspicious when they weren’t listed for sectionals, but they didn’t want to make an announcement until after East Sectionals were done.

Porier dating a woman hahaha oh mi sides.

Paul is a bottom and that ass was made to take cock.

Any details on Paul's dating life, R279?

R278 Has Koleto any change to get Japanese citizenship?

R281 He's supposed to live in Japan for at least five years but exceptions can be made. The other dance splits and his marriage to Komatsubara might help a little. He'll be interviewed on Kenji's Room later this month and we could get an update on that situation.

Takahashi is going first for Men's SP at sectionals.

R282 so his problem may be that there isn't an half ice dance center in Japan to move there to train (and so satisfying the residence requirement)

Finland GP Pairs SP

1) Della Monica/Guarise 68.18 (Della Monica step out in the SBS)

2) Zabjako/Enbert (Enbert fell in the SBS. I think he got the jump downgraded, at least UR) 67.59

3). Pavliuchenko/Khodykin 63.80 (he almost fell in the step sequence. Trouble landing in the throw)

4) Ziegler/Kiefer 62.69 (cleanish. Hand down in the throw)

5) Ryom/Kim 56.87 (will they have change the SP? It's the third season in a row. She fell in the SBS)

6) Stellato/Bartholomey 56.44 (he fell in the SBS)

7) Barquero/Maestu 50.91 (he fell in the SBS)

8) Suzaki/Kihara 46.22 (she fell in the SBS and in the throw)

The lift by Ziegler/Kiefer went from -5 (Italian judge) to +4 (Spanish judge). No other judge went into negative GOE (some were at +1), so I am not sure what the Italian woman was watching. Their throw went from -3 (German judge) to +2 (Japanese judge) and their spin from -2 (German judge) to +2 (Italian and Japanese judge)

Finnish judge gave Paviluchenko/Khodykin 4.0 in Interpetation (Japanese judge: 7.5). But he went down to 3.75 for Suzaki/Kihara.

RD going on in Finland

Popova/Mozgov behind Turkilla/Versluis

Mozgov messy on the first pattern of Tango Romantica and not great on the twizzles.

R285 -5 looks like a mistake, but she meant to enter +5 then?

Any chance ice conditions aren't ideal with so many falls and mistakes in both ladies and pairs?

R283 Yes. Their crowdfunding site says they will be moving to Okayama at the end of the month, submit Koleto’s application in 2019 and expect citizenship to be granted in 2020-2021. They must have been told the 5-year residency requirement will be waived. I don’t think there are any elite ice dance coaches in Okayama (or entire Japan), but they may be making frequent trips to Montreal. Cathy Reed is located in Osaka and maybe she will be helping out.

Lots of NNNN in the Tango Romantica in the first group

Juulia TURKKILA / Matthias VERSLUIS 63.06 (SB)

Betina POPOVA / Sergey MOZGOV 62.35

Jasmine TESSARI / Francesco FIORETTI 58.48

Shari KOCH / Christian NÜCHTERN 56.71

Katharina MÜLLER / Tim DIECK 56.69

I meant half decent dance training center in R283

R287 Thanks. So they are moving to Japan. Interesting.

Hurtado/Khaliavin are saving the money for 2021?

Just behind Carreria/ Ponomarenko

Both teams 66.something

they can't find the music for Guignard/Fabbri....

1) Stepanova/Bukin 78.18

2) Guignard/Fabbri 77.36 (-1, I Guess for extended lift)

3) McNamara/Carpenter 71.40

4) Carreira/Ponomarenko 66.93

5) Hurtado/Khaliavin 66.25 (SB)

-1 was for time violation

Germany, Japan, Finland, Spain and Italy put G/F first in PCS

Russia, Israel, Czech Republic and USA put S/B first

Time volation? They d be above russian , if it is not that. But they should forgive them itbecause they fucked up themselves with that beginning. Lousy

Can Sui make a miraculous recovery? We need Sui/Han!!!

Zabjako as a knight is a kitsch must see

[quote] Takahashi is going first for Men's SP at sectionals.

who else skate there? And how many are going to qualify?

[quote]Paul is a bottom and that ass was made to take cock.

Yes, R279.

And Paul has been in the Top 10 in the World since he was 18, and is handsome, so he must have had some good opportunities by now.

So which guys has he been with?

Western Sectionals (all dance have to compete at the same sectionals so almost like nationals)

Junior Dance (RD)

1. Ayumi Takanami/Yoshimitsu Ikeda 43.75 (25.33+18.42)

Senior Dance (RD) –mostly negatives, 0’s and 1’s for both teams.

1. Mio Iida/Kenta Ishibashi 45.09 (25.43+19.66)

2. Kiria Hirayama/Axel Lamasse 43.74 (23.40+20.34)

Junior Men (SP)

1 Yuto Kishina 76.37 (41.92+34.45) Tamura was with him

2 Mitsuki Sumoto 71.47 (38.12+33.35)

3 Lucas Tsuyoshi Honda 69.41 (37.76+31.65)

Junior Ladies (SP)

1 Nana Araki 63.17 (38.13+25.04)

2 Yuhana Yokoi 60.03 (33.71+26.32)

3 Serina Okada 57.75 (36.19 +21.56)0,

Senior Ladies has started Rika Kihira is skating 14th at 13:59:40. Men from 16:35 with Takahashi going 1st and Tomono 3rd. Honda brother is going last. Only ladies and men FS will be broadcast live on Sunday from 15:30 on Fuji TV Two (CS). They will also air Takahashi’s SP from the previous day during the break between the ladies and men’s FS. The Nagoya team (Uno, Higuchi, Yamamoto, Matsuda, Yuhana and Kinayu Yokoi, Hiroaki Sato, Nakamura) just walked in.

Follow Fuji TV Skate for updates on twitter and IG: @online_on_ice

R297 11 will qualify + Tomono.

Results page:

Nevermind. The Nagoya team and Higuchi are at Chukyo University festival where they have an open practice at the rink. Uno was not supposed to be there. He performed Stairway to Heaven.

Kihira is in first. 3A (step out?) 3F+3T 3Lz TSS73.41 TES42.89tPCS30.52 SS7.50 TR7.45 PE7.80 CO7.65 IN7.75

I won't be back in time for Takahashi and Tomono. You can follow the men's scores here (no English available):

Takahashi 83.56

Minano (I am not sure if he exists. This is how google translates the name of the runner up) 83.27

Daisuke has the third TES: 41.61

Tomono has not skated yet

83.27 was Tomono. Beware of google

Daisuke 3A with +4/5

3F+3T with -3/-4

3Lz with +2/4

Spin and Step Sequences Level 3

Tomono landed the Quad. 3A also with a good GOE. Combo with some negative GOE. 2 Spins got Level 4, one level 2.

Enbert is a cutie.

yes he is

Pairs final result

1) Zabjiako/Enbert 198.51 (one fall for him in FS,I am not sure how she saved a throw)

2) Della Monica/Guarise 185.77 (SBS very weak today. Got lucky they held on second place thanks to PCS)

3) Pavliuchenko/Khodykin 185.61

4) Ziegler/Kiefer 174.81 (they missed the final lift)

5) Ryom/Kim 174.24 (some URs for her in SBS)

6) Stellato/Bartholomey 159.21 (a disastrous FS. Lower TES of all)

7) Barquero/Maestu 149.54 (problem in lifts)

8) Suzaki/Kihara 145.65 (poor souls)

Zabiako/Enbert are good looking people but absolutely devoid of charisma or personality. I can scarcely keep my eyes open when they skate.

Marchei says he is aiming at 2022 and would like to find a partner who is "at least at Hotarek's level".

I don't think there isn't anyone in Italy though.

She is touring with Holiday on Ice this winter (without Hotarek...I guess the split wasn't that amicable because even if he wanted to retire, I guess doing ice shows would have not been off limit for him).

Will Valtter Virtannen ever go away? He looks like a drunken hobo and skates like one as well.

where is the left part of Virtanen's costume?

Ah, tomorrow he will do La Strada again

I find Cha looks like Medvdeva...

I watched the press conference of the ladies short and it was cute to see the little Japanese girl (Yuna Shiraiwa) tidying up after everyone - pushing all the chairs back in place - when it was over. Reminded me of Yuzuru doing something similar. I 'think' Yuzu said Brian acted like a father figure when he was asked about Brian holding the tiny Pooh in his hands while Yuzuru held the tissue box Pooh. That really surprised me but it was sweet. Now if he had only put that garland on his head last week for Med.

Ahaha Emmi ahaha i won

Battle of German ice dance is brutal

Quasimodo 143.62t

Cancerdance 143.59

Popova/Mozgov beaten by Turkilla/Versluis also in the FD. Not good for them

1) Stepanova/Bukin 200.09

2) Guignard/Fabbri 196.29

3) McNamara/Carpenter 176.66

4) Hurtado/Khaliavin 172.09

5) Carreira/Ponomarenko 167.28

6) Turkilla/Versluis 160.62

7) Popova/Mozgov 157.56

8) Tessari/Fioretti 153.89

9) Koch/Nuchtern 143.62

10) Muller/Dieck 143.59

Stepanova/Bukin FS marginally outscores H/D, S/K and G/P last week, thanks to a big TES

Guignard fell but it was outside elements. Two second places should be enough for GP Final.

First GP podium for McNamara/Carpenter. They got a -2 deduction in the FS. Score not as high as at Skate America but without the -2 they would be only a couple of points below it. Confirming themselves outside the home event is important. I am actually curious about how much Hawayek/Baker are scored over them.

Hurtado/Khaliavin FS at same level as Smart/Diaz at Skate Canada. Their problem seem to be the Tango. S/D Tango works much better

Carreira/Ponomarenko probably hoped to be a bit closer to McN/C

Finnish team did well

P/M were a disappointment.

Tessari/Fioretti result is pretty solid for them

German teams whatever, not good for either of them. They should have been at same level of the Italians.

[quote]6) Stellato/Bartholomey 159.21 (a disastrous FS. Lower TES of all)

Damn...what's happened to them? They looked so promising when they started, now they seem to be imploding.

And am I the only one sensing some intense tension between them lately? They seem really annoyed with each other after each skate, like they can't stand to be around each other.

Deanna does seem like a type-A perfectionist, whereas Nate seems chill and laid back...maybe that difference in approach it causing the conflict?

Anyone have inside scoop?

R317 IIRC also at some point of (early) last season I noticed that attitude from them.

US Pairs are an unpredictable mess at the moment. Between them, Knierims, Cain/Leduc, Kayne/O'Shea, it can go all ways depending on the day at Nationals.

__________________

Pairs press conference

Who is Carriera/ Ponomarenko’s coach? Do they have something like weight control or bodybuilding as a part of their training? I think they’ll become the new truck driver team. And P’s beard is a total disaster

Western Sectionals

Junior Dance (Final) 1. Ayumi Takanami/Yoshimitsu Ikeda 107.22 (FS TSS63.47 TES35.57 PCS27.90)

Senior Dance (Final) –The new couple won.

1. Kiria Hirayama/Axel Lamasse 120.07 (RD TSS76.33 TES45.23 PCS31.10)

2. Mio Iida/Kenta Ishibashi 113.36 (RD TSS68.27 TES38.07 PCS30.20)

Junior Men (Final)

1 Mitsuki Sumoto 202.39 (FS TSS130.92 TES64.02 PCS67.90)

2 Tatsuya Tsuboi 202.06 (FS TSS138.27 TES68.17 PCS70.10)

3 Lucas Tsuyoshi Honda 189.48 (FS TSS120.07 TES55.47 PCS64.60)

Junior Ladies has started. Senior Ladies starts at 14:00, Rika Kihira (紀平梨花) is skating 22 of 24 at 17:05:00. Live scores will be here: www.jsfresults. com /National/2018-2019/fs_j/west/data0205.htm

Men starts at 17:40, last group (12-17) at 19:23:30. I won’t be able to watch it. Top six with their times and names in Japanese:

12 Taichiro Yakuma (山隈太一朗) 19:30

13 Taichi Honda (本田太一) 19:37 Marin/Miyu/Sara’s brother

14 Kazuki Kushida (櫛田一樹) 19:44

15 Shu Nakamura (中村優) 19:51

16 Kazuki Tomono (友野一希) 19:58

17 Daisuke Takahashi (髙橋大輔) at 20:05

Keep an eye on @online_on_ice and @satosysk8 on twitter for real-time updates. Takahashi fans will also likely be uploading video from the Fuji broadcast.

Live results for Men at the following:

Yakuma should be Yamakuma.

R319 Igor Shpilband

I can't get over how clunky G/F skating is. Please don't let them be another Bobrova/Soloviev that we have to pretend are good.

Takahshi wins Sectionals beating Tomono by 11 points in the FS

Tomono's TES was higher but only by 3 points. Daisuke's PCS were over 86 with Tomono at 73.

Daisuke had a messy 3Lz+2T and an UR on 3F+2T<

Tomono got the 4S+2T combo but then fell on his UR solo 4S. 3 other jumping passes were in negative GOE

this is the SP

[quote] I can't get over how clunky G/F skating is.

and that is because you don't remember how even worse we used to be

(I actually forgot she used to be blonde!)

I thought Cappellini/Lanotte were the “we have to pretend that they really good” At least Bobrova/Soloviev knew to add lil blind lady drama into their FD instead of only changing the color of dresses every season.

we have to suffer Valter Virtanen even in the gala. He got his sea shirt, white with blue stripes, of when he was young...around 1910

Ah, Virtanen is immediately followed by Guignard/Fabbri doing a Grease number

Takahashi FS today

so Cizeron's boyfriend is this one?

It sure looks like it, R330:

He looks like that guy from netflix tv show La casa de papel.

I wish I could be junhwan.

Oops wrong thread

Pavel Drodz have teamed up with Ksenia Konkina. Coach is Zhulin

Thanks, R330 and R331! I have been wanting to know his name, especially since people mentioned he had commented on that French federation stream or whoever it was who cut it off before Papadakis and Cizeron skated.

R335 so Konkina dropped her boyfriend? She changed partner twice this year. Wow, she can be best friends with Abachkina!

R336 you have to thank Kaitlin Hawayek for the name. She tagged him in the IG birthday party group pic where he was standing next to Cizeron.

R337 That is Russia, I tend to make confusion, who was sleeping with who in all these couple changes? She is now posting heart pics with her former former partner also

Thanks for the tip, R338, and thank you Kaitlin, haha.

Angelo Bower- jesus, Angelo? Seriously? Sounds like name from porno.

Papadakis/Cizeron not listed anymore among NHK entries

It is wide open.....Zagarski/Guerreiro are going to win it? Will Hawayek/Baker be in decent shape to challenge them? Or the Parsons can be competitive for the win? Z/G have barely beaten McN/C at Skate America

Fuck.

NHK

Soucisse/Firus

Wang/Liu

Lewis/Gibson

Komatsubara/Koleto

Skoptcova/Aleshin

Zagorski/Guerreiro

Nazarova/Nikitin

Hawayek/Baker

Parsons/Parsons

What’s the problem??!!! Could it be the new FD?

Injury or their FD is not ready yet. They started their practices very late, in August.

I find it hilarious that so many canadians are so worried that P/C WRed. They are so sad. lol

Yeah, they wont win GPF in Vancouver. Canadian pricks are glad they wont anything in Canada

Carol Lane's voodoo doll worked.

This all but guarantees Gilles/Poirier a trip to the GPF. And without P/C, Chock/Bates or Weaver/Poje there...their FD may even get them on the podium. Hard to see them beating H/D or Stepanova/Bukin...they're going to have their hands full with Sinitsina/Katsalapov and Guignard/Fabbri for Bronze. But, in a world with three Russians in the final and only one Canadian team...you never know. (Paging Leanna Caron!)

Hopefully it's not an injury and P/C just feel they need more time to get the FD right. Putting out something not ready would be worse than even skipping the whole GPF season. Everyone knows how good they are. As long as they are gone, the judges will leave space for them.

Cizeron hurt his back after a fall during practices last week

Could the injury be an excuse?

I mean, are there any chances that they will change their FD? Or just picking up an old one(the 16-17 FD was awesome)?

Rhythm Dance - Volvo Cup (somewhere in Latvia)

1) Popova/Mozgov (Russia) 64.31

2) Muller/Dieck (Germany) 61.24

3) Popova/Bielikov (Ukraine) 60.74

4) Reed/Ambrulevicious (Lithuania) 59.96

5) Galyevieva/Thauron (France) 58.94

6) Yanovskaya/Lucaks (Hungary) 57.94

7) Moscheni/Fabbri (Italy) 57.36

8) Caledorone/Papetti (Italy) 54.19

9) Wagret/Souquet (France) 53.82

10) Manni/Rohlisberger (Switzerland) 51.24

11) Monaghan/Fourati (Hungary) 51.00

rest below 51 points

[quote]This all but guarantees Gilles/Poirier a trip to the GPF.

Good.

We'll get to see more of Paul Poirier's great ass:

not to qualify Gilles/Poirier need

to finish third in France behind Papadakis/Cizeron and Sinistina/Katslapov

that would mean 3+3=6

Hubbell/Donohue (1+1), Stepanowa/Bukin (1+likely 1) and Guignard/Fabbri (2+2) would be ahead of them

Same for Sinistina/Katsalapov (2+2)

If Zagorski/Guerreiro are in top 2 this week it would mean 3+2 or 3+1 for them...so ahead of a 3+3

and that is 5

if Hawayek/Baker (or Parsons/Parsons) finish 2 at NHK and 4 in France would qualify over a 3+3 because best placements is the first tiebreaker

Official NHK Trophy webpage: nhk-trophy2018 .jp/

Offical NHK Trophy twitter handle: @nhktrophyfigure

NHK figure skating page with video messages from Japanese competitors: www1. nhk.or .jp/figure/

NHK will be offering public-viewing of the competition in 8K super high-vision in Tokyo at AiiA Theater Tokyo in Shibuya with some b-talents and c-list foreign celebs in need of work.

Due to news programs and soccer-football/tennis/sumo matches, the competition will air between two channels: the general NHK channel and NHK BS1. This is quite confusing but…

[italic]Friday: [/italic]

[bold]2:00PM-3:40PM Pairs SP on BS1[/bold]

[bold]4:05PM-5:57PM Ladies SP on NHK[/bold]

6:00PM-6:45PM A special focusing on which competitors to watch will air on BS1 (maybe they will show the opening ceremony?)

[bold]6:55-7:30PM Men’s SP on BS1[/bold]

[bold]7:30-8:45PM The rest of Men’s SP on NHK[/bold]

[italic]Saturday: [/italic]

9:00AM-9:50AM Ladies SP rebroadcast on BS1

10:00AM-10:50AM Men’s SP rebroadcast on BS1

[bold]12:30PM-2:15PM Ice Dance RD on BS1[/bold]

[bold]2:25PM-4:10PM Pairs FS on BS1[/bold]

[bold]4:10PM-6:45PM Ladies FS on NHK[/bold]

[bold]7:30PM-9:45PM Men’s FS on NHK[/bold]

[italic]Sunday: [/italic]

9:00AM-9:50AM Ladies FS rebroadcast on BS1

10:00AM-10:50AM Men’s FS rebroadcast on BS1

[bold]11:30AM-1:20PM Ice Dance FD on BS1[/bold]

[bold]1:30PM-3:00PM NHK “Legends on Ice” on BS1 (“Legends” are Akiko Suzuki, Nobunari Oda, Shizuka Arakawa, Daisuke Takahashi, Midori Ito, Takeshi Honda and Yuko Kavaguti)[/bold]

[bold]3:05PM-5:35PM Exhibition Gala on BS1[/bold]

1:30AM-2:20AM Shortened version of the Gala on NHK

And they already aired a few specials on BS1 about the Men’s and Ladies competition with commentary from some “legends.”

I recommend watching another country’s broadcast due to all of the confusion if possible. Consult soyouwanttowatchfs.com/ to find a stream. (“Legends on Ice” might be Japan only.)

Eurosport shoud show Men and Ladies live and Pairs re-run in between Ladies and Men

Chock/Bates are out of Rostelecom

Unsurprisingly

I am not sure who will finish second there now. Hurtado/Khalavian?

R356 I thought C/B had skipped the GPs...

Anyway, Hurtado and Khiliavin use a song of Harry Styles in their FD, which surprises me a lot! And I now start to hope they can beat Smart/Diaz who are getting even more cheesy

Riga Ice Dance final result

1) Betina POPOVA / Sergey MOZGOV 168.47

2) Katharina MULLER / Tim DIECK 160.10

3) Daria POPOVA / Volodymyr BIELIKOV158.84

4) Adelina GALYEVIEVA / Louis THAURON 156.19

5) Allison REED / Saulius AMBRULEVICIUS 153.78

6) Anna YANOVSKAYA / Adam LUKACS 153.50

rest below 150

[quote]Chock/Bates are out of Rostelecom

Chock/Bates should have retired after the Olympics.

Their time at the top of American Ice Dance is over.

R357 they waited until today to withdraw from their second event. Even few were expecting them to actually show up. They could have withdrawn earlier. Now a couple will be invited at short notice. Yes, it will be a second tier team but world standing points (top 8) are achievable given the entries.

r353 not sure if it makes a difference, but the point breakdown is 15 points for 1st, with each position dropping by two points ( 2nd = 13, 3rd = 11, etc...). With all of the withdrawals this year, it's going to make it very interesting to see who ends up in the GPF.

So is Gracie going to skate at Rostelecom?

NHK’s results page. Unfortunately, it’s all in Japanese, but it will include video of each performance. (You’ll still have to consult the ISU page for more detailed results and judge’s scores.)

Order of the tabs: Men (男子シングル), Ladies (女子シングル), Pairs (ペア), Ice Dance (アイスダンス)

Pink for SP/RD. Yellow for FS/FD.

Final Ranking (総合順位)

Combined Score (総合得点)

Name (選手名)

Rank for SP/FS (順位)

Score for SP/FS (得点)

[bold]Starting Order/Video of Performance (演技順/動画)[/bold]

PCS (演技構成) only appears in PC mode

There's been an update to the NHK results page. 演技構成 is supposed to refer to the planned layouts (予定演技構成) and not PCS (演技構成点) in PC mode. All of the SP layouts have just been added.

WTF happened to pairs? Is Z/E the best we can get for this event? Also has the pairs events always had only 8 teams competing?

Damn, P/C out of the Grand Prix finals? Can Zach Donohue stay upright long enough to nab gold? Can G/P fix their awful short so that it looks like it belongs to the same team as their long?

This is getting to be an interesting season--not necessarily a great one, but an interesting one.

R363 Result page in English is here

Pairs SP

1) Zabaiajo/Enbert 73.48

2) Peng/Jin 70.66

3) Moore Towers/Marinaro 67.70

4) Knierim/Knierim 64.75

5) Kayne/O Shea 59.0

6) Barquero/Maestu 55.37

7) Lu/Mitrofanov 52.35

8) Suzaki/Kihara 49.93

R365 Pairs field is always only 8

But this year to fill 8 teams per event they had to go down to the bottom of reserve list (Barquero/Maestu)

And yes, sadly, the situation is now that Zzzzzz(abieko/Enbert) have become 2 times GP winners (they won Finland GP last week too); Moore Towers/Marinaro are now the top Canadian team; Poor Peng is the only Chinese left in GP this season

Our faves Cortney Hicks gets 59.10. Angela Wang at 60.82

They left Craine (58) and Meite (50) behind. Kihara (69) and Leonova (68) are in the lead after Group 1

[quote]Can G/P fix their awful short so that it looks like it belongs to the same team as their long?

G&P's short isn't as strong as their long, but it's not awful.

The reason they got poor marks for it at Skate Canada was because there was a big deduction for Piper's stumble.

If they had skated it cleanly they might have won silver instead of bronze.

Jesus Chris LU/Mitrofonov (USA) are two kids competing against adults. lol So much potential, for now they only need to bask in the experience.

They are the most adorable think in skates since Michelle Kwan @ 94' worlds.

Mariah Bell 62.97

Messy landing of 3Lz and fall in the second jump of the combo.

I forgot about the existence of Sotskova

Poll Troll, I had no idea you were a skating fan.

You have to give Leonova credit for hanging in there despite people predicting her demise for years & years.

Uno’s score is disgusting.

Did the Knierems have a coach with them in the SP?

R378 Todd Sand

Pairs done. The Knierims traded places with Moore-Towers/Marinaro. The top two were actually kind of great.

1 Natalia ZABIIAKO/Alexander ENBERT 214.14 2 Cheng PENG/Yang JIN 207.24 3 Alexa SCIMECA KNIERIM/Chris KNIERIM 190.49 4 Kirsten MOORE-TOWERS/Michael MARINARO 189.66 5 Tarah KAYNE/Danny O'SHEA 164.16 6 Laura BARQUERO/Aritz MAESTU 159.59 7 Audrey LU/Misha MITROFANOV 149.25 8 Miu SUZAKI/Ryuichi KIHARA 143.69

And I thought Zabiiako/Enbert's coach was Elton John.

Moore Towers/Marinaro are out of GP Final

Zabiiajo/Enbert and Peng/Jin qualify.

Tarasova/Morozov and James/Cipres will take 2 spots

The final 2 spots will probably be between Della Monica/Guarise, Efimova/Korovin and Pavliuchenko/Khodykin. All 3 will skate at Rostelecom.

Rhythm Dance

1) Zagorski/Guerreiro 75.49

2) Hawayek/Baker 70.71 (PCS very close to Z/G. they paid the price with the Tango patter. Only 1 key point out of 8 while Z/G got 7/8)

3) Parsons 69.07 (TES higher than H/B)

4) Wang/Liu 66.27

5) Soucisse/Firus 66.01

6) Skoptcova/Aleshin 64.53

7) Fear/Gibson 63.91

8) Nazarova/Nikintin 60.20

9) Komatsubara/Koleto 59.40

absolutely incredible ladies event

Judges were also incredible for placing Satoko above Tuk considering Satoko’s undertotations and unclear edges.

Men competitions have become a general mess.

Uno wins as expected

In the raise of the oldies, Voronov takes second and will likely qualify for GP Final

Matteo Rizzo gets on the podium with a fall on his (semi) quad and a couple of other URs

Zhou under-rotated as always. He finished 4th.

Aliev was a disaster. Vasjlievs' jumps are not improving.

The level was so bad that Alex Johnson with 199 points managed to end 7th and get World Standing points

Paint got a lower TES than Angela Wang's

Hawayek/Baker looked a bit overscored to me in the RD

5 judges put them in first place in PCS (USA, Canada, China, Japan and France). Russia, Ukraine, Australia and Great Britain scored Zagorski/Guerreiro ahead.

Australian and Ukrainian judge in particular had them only 4th in the Components. Australian had Parsons second while the Ukraine woman placed Fear/Gibson second in PCS

Re Austriali and Ukraine judge

them is Hawayek/Baker

Oh well, Hawayek/Baker won NHK.

The disco dance by Fear/Gibson was one extended lift away from winning the FD

So, are Hawayek/Baker the new Chock/Bates, while the Parsons are the new ShibSibs?

The Ice Dance events NHK and Rostelecom are so weak. You really feel the absence of P/C and Chock/Bates. (As well as V/M, Weaver/Poje, the Shibs and C/L.)

Meanwhile, France is going to be a total bloodbath. Sinitsina/Katsalapov (needs Bronze) and Hawayek/Baker (needs 4th) should make the GPF unless they fuck up both dances. But Gilles/Poirier has to beat both of them and win Silver to get in the Final over Zahorski/Guerreiro. Will they be able to do that? They'll need help from S/K.

Whether or not they make the GPF, I'll be very interested to see where the judges put the Canadians. What score does their RD get? They may not beat S/K, but they need to be right with them. If they are back with H/B...they are in big fucking trouble. And it's a sign that they are still not seen as a top team.

Lilah Fear needs to learn the lyrics and not lip sync at random over Donna Summer. And if she is counting the steps for him in the Choreographic Character Step Sequence , she should try to be less evident even if it is difficult given they are right in front of the judges and camera line. They have started to get the first 9s (one in Performance and one in Interpretation)

Karen Chen has withdrawn from Rostelecom. Or not. She posted about it yesterday but then she quickly delated her IG post.

[R392] Karen is another one who should get off of social media. She's prone to posting things she shouldn't.

Karen is still on ISU list

What's up with Nazarova/Nikitin? Last season they stagnated a bit but now they have regressed. I know they left Shpilband because they couldn't financially afford to train and live in USA but going back to Europe (they split between Ukraine and Paris with Bourzat) shouldn't necesserily make you forget how to skate

When they showed up at Nebelhorn, they were totally out of condition but things don't seem to improve much. Losing to Komatsubara/Koleto is pretty telling. And when the score came up in K&C, Nikitin turned to Nazarova and Bourzat and said "congratulations". Bitch fight in sight? I didn't understand what Bourzat replied, something like "....better skate, Maxim"

Did anyone listen to Ashley doing commentary this weekend? Just curious if people thought she was any good. I didn't listen...can't stand her. But I suppose she couldn't be any worse than Tara.

[R396] Ashley hasn't been on yet. The Olympic Channel hasn't started airing NHK.

R393, Yeah, when you have epic boot problems, don't bitch about the boot maker you finally found. In some ways, Chen's a bigger head case than Gracie Gold.

So is Gracie skating at Rostelecom or not?

Karen has been officially removed from ISU Rostelecom list today

The Ice Dance field in Moscow is depressing for a Grand Prix event

Alexandra STEPANOVA / Ivan BUKIN

Sara HURTADO / Kirill KHALIAVIN

Christina CARREIRA / Anthony PONOMARENKOt

Natalia KALISZEK / Maksym SPODYRIEV

Sofia EVDOKIMOVA / Egor BAZIN

Anna YANOVSKAYA / Adam LUKACS

Misato KOMATSUBARA / Tim KOLETO

Allison REED / Saulius AMBRULEVICIUS

Annabelle MOROZOV / Andrei BAGIN

So depressing, R401. Hurtado/Khaliavin and Carreira/Ponomarenko will win Silver/Bronze. I'm happy for them, I guess. But this entire Grand Prix series has been one big snooze fest.

We were so spoiled this past quad. We had heirs apparent Weaver/Poje and Chock/Bates competing with solid Capellini/Lanotte. We had the Shibs in the background upping their game. The mystery of whether V/M and D/W would return. And the explosion of Papadakis/Cizeron on the scene to change the whole Ice Dance world. What we are seeing now is a sport without stars. It's nice that the Russians are stepping up. I'm glad that Guignard/Fabbri will have their time to shine. (And Paul Poirier, too.) But we desperately need Papadakis/Cizeron to show up and kick ass next week. They're the only stars the sport has now.

This is why I still think that Virtue/Moir will come back next year to compete at Worlds in Montreal. Why wouldn't they? The only team that can beat them is P/C. And it's not like Weaver/Poje or Gilles/Poirier are taking over. G/P might not even make the GPF. Worst case, V/M get Silver and get to bow out at home. But, they could also sneak a Gold and add another World Championship (which is one of the only weaknesses on their resume.) I fucking hate those Canadian hams, but would welcome them back. At least I wouldn't be bored.

how low can Morozov/Bagin go?

I liked Hawayek/Baker's FD a lot. He's not the best-looking ice dancer to hit the ice, but damn, Jean-Luc can skate and both he and Hawayek are truly musical.

I like Hubbell/Donohue, but I wish they weren't doing Romeo and Juliet--just isn't the right choice for them.

P/C being out is a big disappointment, but I'm actually finding the ice dance season kind of interesting because things are up in the air. Ice dance is still in much better shape than pairs.

I think the most interesting discipline so far this year is Ladies--the Japanese girls are on fire--and there are so many of them along with the glut of Russian girls. Zagitova's the only clear favorite in any competition, everything else is up for grabs.

Men are fine--but we're really looking at Hanyu, Chen and Uno--with a possible Russian spoiler in the offing if one of them implodes.

Jean-Luc Baker is cute.

NHK Free Dance

Canada judge: Hawayek/Baker 119.78 Fear/Gibson 107.53

USA judge: Hawayek/Baker 117.74 Fear/Gibson 110.44

(only 2 judges not to give the highest GOEs to F/G)

on the other hand

Russia judge: Fear/Gibson 117.90 Hawayek/Baker 109.94

Ukraine judge: Fear/Gibson 118.33 Hawayek/Baker 107.03

(the only 2 judges not to score H/B first in PCS)

God, I thought some skater was posting here on his/her own again after reading certain rediculous replies.

Ice dance this season is just fine without P/C or V/M for that matter Lots of competition and teams are upping their game. It's actually way way more interesting than last season.

By the way, I must be the only one who thinks Kevin Aymoz program "In this shirt" program is a bit overhyped...

Any timeframe on P/C's return?

R409, they are supposed to skate in a week at the Internationaux de France GP

[quote]By the way, I must be the only one who thinks Kevin Aymoz program "In this shirt" program is a bit overhyped...

I'm not into him and I'm not sure why. I think he's just a little bit too "sensitive artiste" for me.

I like Aymoz, he's different and that's a virtue unto itself.

To me it feels like Aymoz almost tries too hard to cultivate the artiste persona with this program

Oh, and this song will soon be going on the list of dangerously overused...watch it become the next La La land..what with Ponsart and Hawayek and Baker using it

Why did everyone start using that song all of a sudden? It came out in 2010. I like it, and I like H/B's program. But I don't remember hearing it in skating before.

The Greens have been entered to Golden Spin Junior competition.

Sectionals are this week

Bottom Kevin is competing in Eastern. 5 skaters for, I think, 4 spots:

Tony Lu, North Jersey FSC

Jun-Hong Chen, SC of Boston

Kevin Shum, SC of Boston

Timothy Dolensky, Atlanta FSC

Jimmy Ma, SC of New York

R402, if you like Paul Poirier, here's a profile on him from a few months ago.

It's in French, but there are lots of photos of young Paul, and some nice shots of his ass:

Do you know that Tiffany Zagorskys mother trolls on PC thread ?

*Zahorski

Trolls? She just mocked Alain, who is a horribly insufferable uber who think he is special because of his access to P&C.

how was Ashley's commentary?

R420 i dont think he thinks he is special.. ;) horribly insufferable ????jesus christ what about canadian bots who possesed that thread . Sometimes he has to react (or me) that away to fuck those trolls off. Chill out.

That bitch, her mother must be jealous, I saw that poster made comments about PC before, but I had no idea that she is mother of Tiffany.

R420 what nick do you use on FSU????Allezfred? I bet you re one of the bullies there who troll on pc fandom. Pathethic.

Denney/Frazier withdraw from French GP

I think Pfund/Santillan are the only ones left in the original Pairs reserve list without 2 GPs

I thought I had R422-R424 on block but not in this browser I guess. Makes sense now that it's this batshit crazy troll bashing Tiffany's mother

Hang on, aren’t Gabbi and Tiffany Z friends?

They are R427

R426 THIS batshit crazy troll ??? Who you mean? Yes I am bas hing Tiffanys mother , here. Not somewhere else. She is stupid whore who has been posting fishy posts about them for a very long time. now it seems she is tiffanys mother. What a loser... Say again , who are on you FSU??haha Now she has deleted her posts because she feels stupid. Why would she if she isnt, right?

Anyway , the admin there is an idiot.

R426. That is daitroll from the other thread. I spot it every time she types you re.

So the Greens are finally entered into an event. Do we know if injury is the cause for such a late start to the season ?

R431 Not only daitroll posts you re , dumbass

R342 they are also doing Eastern Sectionals this week. An event with only 2 teams (Greens vs Browns)

Jesus...and now the FSU Papadakis/Cizeron thread is closed because of psycho fan threats. What the fuck is going on? How dare those fuckers make us look as crazy as Virtue/Moir fans!

It is sad. But remember, maybe out there is one, crazy fan of P/C. There are tons of V/Ms! Anyway, theres no real threats, that guy/girl posts on Tiffanys mother account that she will tell everything her daughter on Twitter. Hilarious . And FSU presented it like death threats

Yeah, R424-426 is the loon who had a fit because I had good things to say about H/D, so I had it on block already. It was weird because I made it clear that I don't see them overtaking P/C, but even so it just flipped.

I like it better when we can make fun of everybody because, face it, it's figure skating. With sequins. Both beautiful and a bit absurd at the same time.

woah it looks like Gracie is skating at Rostelecom after all. I wasn't much a fan of her (I'm more an Ashley stan) but good on her for getting back out there.

Ice Dance at Innsbruck Challenger is almost at same level as Rostelecom

Guignard/Fabbri, Lauriault/Legac, McNamara/Carpenter and Shpilevaya/Smirnov should be the top 4 in some kind of order

I'm looking forward to seeing Gracie this weekend, no matter how she does. I loved the Gracie/Ashley era, they pushed each other to be their best. The Olympics wasn't the same without them there.

Whoa, so Gracie's going to do it--who'd have thought that Gracie would make it to the Grand Prix and Karen Chen wouldn't?

As long as Gracie doesn't have one of those painful fall-aparts on the ice, I'll be happy watching her.

Tiffany Zahorski's mother is spot on about Alain. Also, Gabriela is a slut.

[quote]Also, Gabriela is a slut.

Details?

R442...I don't give a fuck about Tiffany's mother. She should spend less time online and more time finding her daughter a decent colorist. And while I've appreciated Alain when he's had gossip, I would agree he's maybe gone a bit off the rails lately. But, this is DL. We don't slut shame women. We don't drop some bullshit like that and then walk away.

We may call women bitches, cunts, whores and sluts...but those are practically terms of endearment. Gay men call each other those names all the time. There is nothing wrong with being "a slut." Most of the best people are.

Oh, and there are two Ls in "Gabriella" you big ole virgin.

I just saw Gracie's short program on Youtube.

Now I need an Oxycontin.

R444 Nice speech but I'm pretty sure DL is one of the few places in the FS fandom where you can call someone a slut and walk away.

I am actually sorry for Gold. Never cared about her when she was at the top but seeing her like this is painful. I didn't expect her to get back to top levels but to something like 50 points rather than 37

So Zueva is alive. She was in the K&C for Alison Reed and Saulius.

They almost managed not to place Annabelle Morozov and her well connected boy last.

Gabriella a slut? Hmmm. I thought Guillaume would be the slut with all the outfits he wears that show off his chest or arms LOL

I bet Tiffany's mother posted that :-P

Innsbruck Challenger

Rhythm Dance

Guignard/Fabbri 76.96

McNamara/Carpenter 68.69

Lauriault/Legac 65.08

Shpilevaya/Smirnov 63.43

Men's SP at Rostelecom was kind of a mess, wasn't it? Other than Hanyu and the guy from Georgia. Hanyu could do laps and doubles and win the whole shebang at this rate.

As for Gracie--ooh boy. Oh well, the point is to get the bye to Nationals. Well, don't think Bradie has anything to worry about.

Almost 125 for Stepanova/Bukin

More than 57 in PCS.

1) Stepanova/Bukin 199.43

2) Hurtado/Khaliavin 174.42

3) Carreira/Ponomarenko 174.21

4) Evdokimova/Bazin 164.66

5) Kaliszek/Spodyriev 161.62

6) Reed/Abrolevicius 158.03

7) Yanovskaya/Lukacs 148.13

8) Komatsubara/Koleto 143.28

9) Morozov/Bagin 133.58

Tarasova/Morozov(220.25 points) and Della Monica/Guarise (203.85) qualify for GP Final

Pavliuchenko/Khodykin can make make it too depending who will finish second in France behind James/Cipres.

Gold:

I’m heartbroken to withdraw from tonight’s free skate. It was a difficult decision to make, but ultimately I need to put my mental health first and focus on the big picture. Looking forward, I need to keep improving both my physical and mental condition.. I thought checking into treatment last fall was the most difficult thing I’ve ever done, but skating my short program last night might have topped it. I do not want to undo the tremendous progress I’ve made in these last few months and I feel that competing the free skate would be damaging to both my confidence and mental health going into Nationals. I thank you all for your support, and I am so sorry if I have let you guys down. This is just the start for me, and I know that greater things are yet to come

"...going into Nationals."???!!! She has to be kidding. How is her mental health going to be when she falls three times in the Short?

Bottom Kevin just qualified to Nationals

[quote]Almost 125 for Stepanova/Bukin

Why are the judges giving these two such high marks?

They seem to be trying to fix the marks in their favor.

It's Rostelecom--of course, there's a push to get the top Russian couple looking like a medal contender, particularly when the season's pretty open in ice dance. I mean, without P/C, H/D are favorites for the Grand Prix, but they're not prohibitive favorites, particularly with Zach's knack for stumbling. Below them, though, it's a bit of a free-for-all--Gilles/Poirier, Hawayek/Baker, the Russians, the Italians. Basically, anyone who makes it to the GP final is going to have a real shot at medalling. Ice dance hasn't been this open in years.

Re: Gracie--I assume she didn't plan to do that badly, but she'd have been better following Polina Edmond's recovery strategy. Edmonds did a lot of low-level competitions before her one GP assignment--including some sort of thing in Vacaville. Her GP appearance wasn't great, but each time she skated she improved and, at least, she did a nice clean short at Nationals in front of her home town. She didn't have all the jumps she needed, but she could deliver the jumps she had.

Just in case the point didn't get across in my last tweet: "There were many more behind scene: works, preparation, strategy, planning, training, minds, physiology and more. Good things takes time, but after half year of work : on to off the ice, we slowly moving that way."

r298 Tomono's FS was nice and you can watch Ge try to imitate his coach, who may have rolled his eyes once or twice, in the K&C.

Sorry, wrong thread.

[bold]OMG fucking god[/bold]! Was that Gracie Gold?????

Surely there was one fucking junior we could have sent instead.

We didn't send her, she had the right to ask for the spot after time off and did. Polina Edmonds did the same thing last year. Polina, at least, could do some triples, just not all of them.

Alysa Liu skates to Babs (just in case you forgot about gay skating dad Arthur) and lands a triple axel. Hope the jumps survive adolescence.

Qualified to US Nationals

Ting Cui, Megan Wessenberg, Julia Biechler, Rena Ikenishi

Amber Glenn, Hannah Harrell, Pooja Kalyan, Hannah Miller

Alysa Lu, Akari Nakahara, Brynne McIsaac, Sierra Venetta

BYEs: Bradie Tennell, Karen Chen, Mariah Bell, Starr Andrews, Cortney Hicks, Angela Wang, Gracie Gold, Ashley Lin

_____

Timothy Dolensky, Jimmy Ma, Kevin Shum, Tony Lu

Jordan Moeller, Emmanuel Savary, Ben Jalovick, Andrew Austin

Sean Rabbitt, Sebastien Payannet, Daniel Kulenkamp, William Hubbart

BYEs: Nathan Chen, Vincent Zhou, Jason Brown, Alexander Johnson, Alexei Krasnozhon, Camden Pulkinen, Tomoki Hiwatashi, Andrew Torgashw

Alpen Trophy in Innsbruck (Challenger Series)

McNamara/Carpenter (174 points) finished second to Guignard/Fabbri (195). However, McN/C lost the FD to Lauriault/Legac (171 overall)

Ahsley Lin finished 4th in the Ladies event with 165 points. The SP was a disaster but the FS was pretty solid. Russian Jr Tarusina won with 198 points. Roberta Rodeghiero from Italy came back after missing last season for health reasons. Not bad: 160 points, she doesn't have a 3+3 yet but she landed all the 3+2. Given the state of Italian skate behind Kostner, it should be enough to go to Europeans.

Tomoki Hiwatash finished 3d (199). Pulkinen 6th (196). Daniel Grassl won easily (230) ahead of Sadovsky (204). Apart from Grassl, all others were pretty messy except for the young Austrian Maierhofer (who had the second FS and got the minimum for Senior Worlds.

I loved British Eurosport coverage of Ice Dance. Especially when Hurtado/Khaliavin finished their RD and the commentators said "He is from here. He has many friends around...I am not sure how many friends he has among the judges..."

And then they acted all puzzled that H&K were scored higher than Alison Reed's Tango

An update on the coaching and residency situation for Komatsubara/Koleto:

R468 Thanks

Any news on potential partners for Muramoto or Reed?

Goodness! Alysa Liu won her berth to Nationals by trouncing the competition and landing two clean 3 axels in the Free skate.

Finally, a girl that can win us another Olympics.

r470 But she can she even compete at the next Olympics? I thought she'd still be too young?

I can't wait to see hotpiece Kevin Bottom skate at Nationals. Any chance he could move up from last year (while, naturally, still being the best bottom in the field.)

Liu's 13 now, so, yes, she'll be 16 during the next Olympics.. I think, though, she's still not eligible for Junior Worlds this year, so the talk is that she probably won't win Nationals this year for that reason--no point giving the win to a 13-year-old who isn't eligible for the big international competitions.

But, yes, if she makes it through the next three years jumps and health intact, she's got champion potential, no question.

Liu is an incredible talent. I like her spirit and spunk on the ice; I see a drive to compete in her that Gracie Gold never had. Let's hope her health remains good and that she stays naturally tiny like Michelle Kwan did.

Liu will lose her cheated axel in no time and the rest of her skating is terrible.

Terrible is an overstatement, but Alysa gets her jumps done by rotating really quickly. So who knows how that technique will hold up as she gets older. It's sort of like Caroline Zhang (but not as bad). You could tell back then that compared to Mirai Nagasu's better jump technique that Mirai would have more longevity in the sport. Until then, let the talented kid enjoy her time in the limelight.

Kevin Shum is likely going to improve on his last place finish. I like his skating overall; he just doesn't have the 3 axel solid. Let's hope he's keeping up academically at MIT.

So why doesn't have someone like Liu have better jump technique? Lack of height? Strength? Rushed training?

A fair number of skaters seem to get the jumps through speed more than height--Miyahara, obviously, but also Bradie Tennell. Number of the Russian girls too. Pogosplat is an exception, not the rule. (I miss Pogosplat--she was so different than the Eteri clones.)

R469 We know that Muramoto has been trying on new hats in Detroit.

In other third tier Ice Dance news

Polizoakis is not on Ice Partner Search anymore. Judging by his IG, he has been paired with Vivienne Schott

Giada Russo has switched to Ice Dance and she is skating with Jaimie Garcia from Spain

Nikolaj Sorensen is expected to get Canadian citizenship in Summer 2020

Junior French ice dancer Corentin Rahier announced retirement. He is best known for his epic "My dear Abachkina, you lost, you will never get me" in the Kiss&Cry at Junior Worlds

The Greens FD at Sectionals

[quote]Nikolaj Sorensen is expected to get Canadian citizenship in Summer 2020

But unless Weaver/Poje retire before the 2022 Olympics, what's the likelihood of Sorensen going to the Olympics if Gilles/Poirier, Weaver/Poje and Soucisse/Firus are all still competing for Canada?

R479...don't forget Virtue/Moir, Canadian Sweethearts.

They still haven't officially retired. I'm convinced they're seeing how things play out this year but are planning to compete next season to finish their careers at Worlds in Montreal. Hard to imagine them not on the podium. Then it's only 2 more years. Could they walk away then? At that point, why not push for more Olympic medals and try and cement your place in history?

I don't think Virtue/Moir will do a 3rd Olympics.

They will want to quit while they are ahead. It's very unlikely they would win a 3rd Olympic Gold.

They only narrowly beat Papadakis/Cizeron this time.

R479 Moreover, Lajoie and Lagha will move Senior next season. It can be hard for F/S to keep both S/F and L/L behind

If V/M are going to compete in 2022, Miss Virtue will have another new and sharp scissors then.

Maybe by 2022 V/M would have married and had one kid.

Soucisse/Firus don't seem to be advancing at the rate that some people thought they would.

I remember a year or two ago when some people were hyping them as being able to beat Gilles/Poirier, but they finished about 30 points behind G/P at Skate Canada last month, so I don't think that will be happening any time soon.

I was just listening to the Rostelecom review that Tony Wheeler does with P J Kwong and PJ said that when Yuzu kept apologizing in the K&C for falling on his 3A, Brian finally said to him "That's enough now." Glad to hear that because Yuzu's obsession with never letting his fans down is not healthy for him. Such a perfectionist!

Oops. Meant to post R486 in the Hanyu thread. Sorry!

I am not impressed by Soucisse/Firus and they looked over-scored to me last season. I don't think they will pass G/P this quad

From the recent Trankov interview

MT: Not silly, more like things that are hard to understand. The new GOE system, for example. In the first GP event Tarasova/Morozov perform a lvl4 split twist, their trade mark element and get a +4 from the Russian judge. Another Russian team skates after, they do an ok split twist, but obviously not as good in high, execution etc as Tarasova/Morozov’s, and they get the same +4 from the same Russian judge. I start thinking: either our split twist is not good enough or there is an amazingly good split twist our rivals are performing and I’m missing it.

Q: Perhaps the judge was simply trying to pull both Russian pairs as high as possible?

MT: Golden words: the judge is trying. He should judge, not try to pull or throw a team.

--------

MT: There is a team, where a guy quite often lands the jumps on two feet. And he always gets +2. It’s a mystery for me: how can you double foot a jump and get a positive GOE? And quite a well positive. Frankly, I don’t completely understand the new system, I haven’t yet learned it well, I need time. Perhaps the judges give a +2 because they are doing that toeloop at the 2nd part of the programme? Perhaps the judge is sitting there and thinking 'Damn, it’s the 10th element the toe, ok, so it’s double footed, a small mistake…’. On the other hand why is not written in the rules book then?

-------

who is he referring with the +2 for double footed jumps? On FSU they think he is talking about Marinaro.

OK...first look at Papadakis/Cizeron's RD at practice.

They skipped the pattern, but it looks good. His outfit seems a bit boring, but it's shitty video so I'll reserve judgment. Both are in black...just like S/K. Too many black/gray costumes from the top teams so far. Hopefully people will bring more color later. Order is out, too. P/C skate last after Hawayek/Baker. Gilles/Poirier are before them. S/K are last in the 1st group.

Compared to the last few weeks, this competition is stacked. Will be fascinating to see not only P/C and how they score in this new system...but how much distance there is between them and S/K and G/P. And then there's G/P's battle to try and make the Final. Finally things are picking up.

hhaha nice edges

Hilary Selby of ISU Technical Committee is the technical controller in Grenoble Ice Dance event

Technical specialists are Marie-Louise Gijtenbeek from the Netherlands (won Dutch Nationals from 2000 to 2007 as the only entry...) and Julia Rey from USA (used to dance with her brother, they were barely making top 10 at Nationals when there was basically nothing behind Belbin/Agosto)

Judges for Ice Dance tomorrow:

France (David Molina, best buddy of Marie France) * 3 teams entered

Russia (Abasova, aka the one sitting next to the Belarus judge at Golden Spin 2017) * 2 teams entered

USA * 2 teams entered

Canada (I am disappointed Leanna didn't nominate herself) * 1 team entered

Spain * 1 team entered

Lithuania couldn't appoint an Ice Dance judge for Alison Reed because their only one was appointed by ISU as referee for Pairs.

Israel (already on site because of Samohin)

Switzerland (already on site because of Paganini)

Germany (invited ad hoc)

Italy (invited ad hoc)

The music is a perfect choice for P/C--I'm usually more interested in their FD than their short, but I'm looking forward to this one. Wonder if they'll stick with these costumes or if they're still working on the final outfits (with extra hooks).

Hope a good version of the competition shows up on YouTube--it looks like the most interesting one so far for ice dance.

Giless/Porier 3.6 points behind Sinistina/Katsalapov

Papakis/Cizeron way ahead with 84.13

Gabriella and Guillaume were great as expected!! On a shallow note: Why is Guillaume never sitting next to Romain anymore? Are their bf and husband respectively to blame? (I am joking obviously)

4 10s in Interpretation for P/C: French, USA, Russian and Swiss judges

in the second pattern of the Tango they got all key points. The first pattern got only Level 1: Gabriela got 1 key point out of 2, Guillame none of them

S/K vs G/P in PCS

Germany: G/P

Canada: G/P but by just 0.25 overall. She gave SS to S/K

Italy: S/K

Israel: S/K by a wide margin

Switzerland: S/K

Russia: S/K

USA: S/K

Spain: G/P by a wide margin

France: S/K

Haven't watched all the skates yet so can't compare...but I liked this a lot. I was bitching about his outfit, but up close you see the texture and the fabric belt. Looks good.

Such a shame they won't be at the GPF.

Japan Junior Nationals

Results page has finally been updated after pair and ice dance already performed their short programs.

1 pair (Riku Miura/Shoya Ichihashi) –Miura fell and got injured in practice after SP and they’ve had to withdraw

2 ice dance (Ayumi Takanami/Yoshimitsu Ikeda & Mai Kashino/Yuuhi Kashino)

30 junior men (24 will advance to FS)

30 junior ladies (24 will advance to FS)

Today: 12:40 Junior Men SP 16:35 Junior Ice Dance FD 17:30 Junior Ladies SP

Tomorrow (Sunday):

12:40 Junior Men FS 16:25 Junior Ladies FS

Check @figureskatingm1 twitter for English updates

Fuji TV is there: @online_on_ice for twitter and IG

If you can stomach him, Gallagher is there: @sportsjapan on twitter

Results page:

Sinistina/Katslapov 6 key points out of 8

Parsons 5/8. I think Parsons boy got all of his

Papadakis/Cizeron 5/8

Gilles/Poirier 3/8

Popova/Mozgov 3/8

Hawayek/Baker 2/8

Reed/Ambruevicious 2/8

Galyavienva/Thauron 1/8

Smart/Diaz 1/8

Laurialt/Legac 0/8

Yawn. This makes me root for someone, anyone to come back - V/M, D/W, Anissina/Peizerat. Anything would be better than watching this endless dreadful overscored snoozefest that is P/C for the next four years.

R501 Thanks for the laugh

Aleksandra BOIKOVA / Dmitrii KOZLOVSKII lead Pairs (68.83)

North Koreans second (67.18)

James/Cipres only third (65.24) but still favourites

Kayne/OSheaa ok (63.45)

Jason Brown’s butt is beautiful and he is flexible sensitive but his most difficult technical elements could be more difficult.

R498 very sensual and artistic but difficult dance, excellent

Gorgeous short by P/C--definitely my favorite short of theirs. Took forever to find--ended up on Daily Motion. Still can't find the rest of the ice dance competition--someone's being very aggressive about taking it down, though it's not been a problem finding Ladies, Men and Pairs.

Man, I wish Jason Brown could manage quads, the rest of his skills really are beautiful.

R506

So glad to see Papadakis bringing the sass! She had the potential with last year's Ed Sheeran piece but it's another level this year. Love it!

R501, P/C were good but agree that they are overscored relative to everyone else, and judges are just ready to shower them with 10.0s and +5.0s. Ice dance judging will become even more of a joke with -5 +5 extended range

When I read the first couple of comments on P/C’s new RD I thought if I unintentionally blocked someone, after scrolling down for a bit, oh, I see you Madison Hubbell!

You will see me on top of the GPF podium, R510.

The +5 GOE system is basically over-ruling the levels in the RD.

Parsons got 3 key points out of 4 in the first Tango Romantica pattern. 7.04 points

P/C only 1 key point and got 7.99 points out of higher GOE

I'm the one who likes H/D, but I also like P/C. I like most of the current teams--V/M need to retire though and take droopy Weaver/Poje with them. Oh, and the ShibSibs definitely wore out their welcome.

And, yeah, if Zach stays on his feet, it's Grand Prix champions for H/D, even though I think that free dance is wrong for them.

yes, I agree. The panel for the GP Final is not Eastern oriented enough to push Stepanova to the win

It should be: USA, Canada, Russia, Italy, Canada, Georgia, Finland, Japan, France and the 9th may be someone nominated for Ladies/Men/Pairs who also have ISU qualification for Ice Dance. If there is no one, they will look at Feds who have alternates...I think it will be Spain.

Carolina Kostner has withdrawn from Italian Nationals

Entries have been released

Senior Men: 7

Senior Ladies: 11

Senior Pairs: 3

Senior Ice Dance: 6 (but one waiting release from Spain)

At Euros 2019 Italy have 2 spots in Men, 2 in Ladies, 3 in Pairs and 3 in Ice Dance

At Worlds 2019, Italy have 1 Man, 2 Ladies, 2 Pairs, 3 Ice Dance

R499 are Japanese entries for Junior Worlds based on Jr Nationals?

H/D can’t be winning with that Romeo & Juliet program, to be honest I felt offended the first time I saw that FD because of Hubbell’s dress. And I also think S/B needs much more improvement to make sure they can catch up with the current P/C. But, who knows? You have to wait until the last minute of GPF to see...

Nathan Chen won French GP. Jason Brown finished second

Men qualified for Grand Prix Final

1) Hanyu 2) Uno 3) Chen 4) Brezina 5) Voronov 6) Cha

Alternates: Messing, Samarin, Rizzo

Messing is likely to be in given Hanyu's injury.

I’ll admit that I’m starting to miss Morozov with his The Best of FS Music CD. It’s like the free dance this year is a new compulsory dance and the theme is “elevator music”.

TES on screen is troubling for Gilles/Poirier. They need S/K to make mistakes (not impossible given who we are talking about)

A 114 Free Dance compared to 120 at Skate Canada

Papadakis/Cizeron goes over 73 TES

^Well, that was Canada.

132.65

9.96 Interpreation

9.93 Performance

9.93 Composition

can we guess who didn't give out 10s?

Sininstina/Katslapov very high. It is a 120 Free Dance

They are easily second here

122.47. They are at Stepanova/Bukin's level

Damn

Why didn’t PC win in Korea?

Ah no S/B got 124 at Rostelecom....but 122 outside of Russia is probably like a 124 in Russia

Qualified for GP Final

Hubbell/Donohue

Stepanova/Bukin

Sinistina/Katsalapov

Guignard/Fabbri

Hawayek/Baker

Zagorski/Guerreiro (who has been very lucky in the last 2 years in terms of withdrawals)

They could have retired already.

I can't say P/C FD was a departure for them, but gorgeous nonetheless...I do know that they are clearly better than everyone else, but I just don't know if I'm on board with the scores being SO much higher. Sinitsina/Katsalapov were great

Interpretation: the only 2 9.75 were Judge 1 (Germany) and 6 (Russia)

Composition: 9.75 from Judge 1 and 5 (Switzerland) . 9.50 from Judge 6

Performance: 9.75 from Judge 4 (Israel), 5 and 6

Only 4 GOEs below +4:, I think, and they were +3

4 judges out of 10 called the Music requirements violation to Hawayek/Baker. And 3 called it to Smart/Diaz

Maybe at Gadbois they have to start to think a change in tempo in the elevator music

R532 Agree. I think this FD is more like a casual gala program instead of a formal free dance to P/C. They should have had a better, quality music choice but not this... And yes, they should have tried Morozov instead of Lambiel. Or Christopher Dean, I think at least he won’t choose someone like Ed Sheeran for FD.

R535, the Ed Sheeran P/C program is by Christopher Dean

R515 Yes. Top six will also be able to compete at senior nationals.

Japan Junior National Championships

Ice Dance (Final)

Takanami/Ikeda 118.18 (SD: 48.21 (26.67+21.54), FD: 69.97 (39.47+31.50))

Kashino/Kashino 97.00 (SD: 37.07 (20.01+17.06), FD: 59.93 (33.93+26.00))

Junior Men (SP)

1 Koshiro Shimada 82.35 (45.90+36.45)

2 Tatsuya Tsuboi 78.23 (43.58+34.65)

3 Yuto Kishina 74.26 (40.21+34.05)

4 Sena Miyake 72.73 (39.13+33.60)

5 Mitsuki Sumoto 69.89 (35.94+33.95)

Junior Ladies (SP)

1 Yuhana Yokoi 61.86 (34.06+27.80)

2 Nana Araki 58.51 (33.11+25.40)

3 Moa Iwano 56.31 (30.27+26.04)

4 Yuna Aoki 55.23 (29.23+26.00)

5 Chisato Uramatsu 54.49 (31.01+23.48)

(Miyu Honda was 9th, Sara 23rd)

Junior Ladies FS will air live on BS Fuji.

Ladies GP Final line up:

Zagitova

Kihira

Miyahara

Tuktamysheva

Sakamoto

Samoudorova

Alternates: Mihara, Kostantinova, Medvedeva

R537 thanks.

Wow, skating was beautiful, like the new lifts, but do not like the music for Papadakis/Cizeron. I think Marie-France got confused and swapped P/C's music with Hubbell/Donohue's. Papadakis' top is wardrobe-malfunction proof. The GP is going to be strange without them since even with the awfulness of the music, they're still the class act of the field. Nice that Hawayek/Baker are getting a slot, slipping right in as the no. 2 American team. (Chock/Bates who?)

Gilles/Poirier need to fix that rhythm dance of theirs. It leaves a bad first impression and they can't close the gap with their free dance, which is a shame because it's a great free dance.

GP Ladies--Russian/Japanese bloodbath. This is going to be good. I'm going to root for the Japanese. But Liza Tuk is in there and Medvedeva is out. Nice long from Bradie, she's getting killed by that opening triple-triple on her short. No GP slot, but respectable showing--ironically, she did better in the harder field and blew what should have been a fairly easy medal of some color at Skate America.

Men--Hanyu, Shomo, Chen. In some order or another. Then everybody else. New judging favors Hanyu, his injuries don't.

Pairs qualified

Tarasova/Morozov

James/Cipres

Zzzzzabiako/Enbert

Peng/Jin

Della Monica/Guarise

Pavliuchenko/Khodykin

I love P/C free and I'm a fan of the music too. The only part of the program that leaves me cold is that rotating lift which just seems a bit simple. I'd also wish they would incorporate a few more interesting/difficult holds and positions. I know we'll never go back to the old Torvill/Dean Mack and Mabel or Bolero days with changes of position every 6 to 7 steps, but there's a lot of open hold and non-hold skating.

I love H/D, but I think normally they run too hot/too cold. Their free dance was electric at US Nationals last year, and then at Olympics even before the fall it felt forced, cheesy, and even somewhat vulgar. I don't know why their skating quality... and really its their performance quality... is so variable from skate to skate. But even them at their best chemistry can't save this R+J routine. V/M's Moulin Rouge might have been trash, but it was populist trash impeccably skated. H/D looks like they wanted a carbon copy of that routine, but smutty and with nothing unique and no buy-in from the audience. I don't get it.

I wish if Paul Pourier was going to continue for one more quad, he and his beautiful ass would have found a new partner. I don't think he can make it back to the Olympics given the trend he's on now.

I wish Paul and Piper would switch to Marina. She's good at finding ways for different kinds of skaters to have chemistry--unlike Marie-France, where it's either sex y or romantic. I think at some point, some team, like Davis/White, is going to come in with a different vibe and a lot of athleticism and suddenly will see lots of transitions again. There's a lot of moody dancing out there, but most of them don't have the dancer sensibility of P/C--Hawayek/Baker do a bit--but too much Gadbois is tedious. Part of what made P/C so exciting is that they stood out. They still do because they're the absolute best at creating a mood, but someone very different will come along at some point and rack up points--quite possibly after the current quad, however.

Good point about H/D--when I saw them at U.S. Nationals, it was clear even during warm-ups that they were in sync and focused, but at the Olympics you could tell the nerves were at work--they don't go as readily into the performing zone as some other teams. And they just shouldn't have gone anywhere Romeo and Juliet. Too tall, too old, Madison's too Amazonian.

That said, if they skate clean, I still think they've got the edge at the Grand Prix--mostly because the stronger competitors won't be there.

Japan Junior Nationals

Junior Men (Final)

1 Tatsuya Tsuboi 222.79 FS: 144.56 (75.46+69.10)

2 Shun Sato 222.30 FS: 156.29 (87.89+68.40) Two quads (4T+2T, 4T) Two axels (3A+3T, 3A)

3 Koshiro Shimada 210.03 FS: 127.68 (59.58+69.10) fell on 4T, popped 3A, edge call on 3F

Apparently, the fed will also be taking the JGPF and nationals into consideration, so Shimada might still have a chance to take one of the two spots for junior worlds, although Sato has just proven he can land two quads in one program.

Judges Scores:

Nikita K. is one of the most handsome guys ever in figure skating. Beautiful lean body as well.

Watching the whole Ice Dance competition here just made it more clear that P/C are the best in the world. So many of the pairs were trying to incorporate their type of movement and they all looked heavy and clunky. Gabriella gets more than her share of criticism, but this FD showcases what I feel are two of her greatest strengths -- her lightness as a dancer...and her immersion into the piece. There's a moment in the 1 Foot Step Sequence where she just smiles to herself. Not a Tessa Virtue Vaseline-on-the-teeth pageant smile. Instead, something effortless and in the moment. It brings you in. I do think there's a bit of dead space where they can add more choreography...but I really liked it. And P/C fans will be glad to know that Carol Lane and Kurt Browning have not changed at all. Watched the CBC coverage and it was the same old bullshit. (They're not versatile. They're not Tessa/Scott who brought something new every year to Ice Dance. Blah blah blah.)

The scores were high, but that was definitely the judges sending a message. To everyone. A message was also sent to Gilles/Poirier who are now going to have to work to fend off Hawayek/Baker instead of competing for medals with Sinitsina/Katsalapov. And, more urgently, they need to beat Weaver/Poje to be Canada's #1. It seems to me that the skating powers that be just do not see Gilles/Poirier as a top team. And I would agree. While they were very unlucky in the Grand Prix assignments, they are losing to S/K by 10 points. They are running out of chances.

Meanwhile, what moron told the Parsons to skate to "To Build A Home"? Seriously? P/C just won Worlds with that in 2016 and many people say that's their favorite program by them. Why would you invite the comparison? All it did was make her look like more of a lumberjack. They need to find a way to embrace her strength and stop trying to pretend she's not a big boned gal. Poor Michael is going to give himself a hernia.

And I would agree with R542, there is definitely room for new blood and a new direction in Ice Dance. No one will beat the French trying to play their game. If I were a coach and had a talented pair...I think I would go hardcore ballroom. Some old school over-the-top glam would be amazing.

R544 I agree

I can't see Gilles/Poirier challenging Weaver/Poje for Canadian title after how the GP season turned out.

Yesterday not even the Canadian judge put them ahead of Sinistina/Katslapov in PCS

Papadakis/Cizeron's FS scores were all in the 131-134 range

S/K's score was held down by Italian judge (to try to keep as close as possible to Guignard/Fabbri's scores, I guess) and by French judge (not sure his aims, they were not challenging P/C anyway and they are clearly superior of other French teams)

Canadian judge inflated G/P by 4 points and Russia underscored them by 4 (I can hear Carol)

German judge doesn't really like Hawayek/Baker

Russian judge put Smart/Diaz in last place, behind Alison Reed/random boy and Thauron/random girl. Khaliavin can send her his greetings.

Israel judge liked Alison...has she skated for them at one point, right? In betwen being Georgian and Lithuanian

Thauron is with Krilova now...so Russian judge acts as the "home" judge

What happened to Weaver/Poje? Are they injured?

R548 skipping GP season to do tour in Canada with Virtue/Moir, Duhamel/Radford, Chan and Osmond

They competed at the Autumn Classic challenger in September and will come back in January for Canadian Nationals

Thanks, R548, I realized they weren't around for the GP events only when I saw the final standings. Slim pickings at the final this year.

Sorry that should read:*Thanks R549 - obviously I didn't mean to thank myself.

R545, the P/C are not versatile commentary will follow them until they choose something else other than lyrical mellow pieces. If you think Carol Lane is bad, there are unprofessional Russian commentators who are also V/M fans and are much more nasty about P/C doing the same thing all the time. This year's FD is beautiful and no piano music , but not too different of an esthetic.

Warsaw Cup Ice Dance

1) Tiffany ZAGORSKI / Jonathan GUERREIRO 187.40

2) Natalia KALISZEK / Maksym SPODYRIEV 177.15

3) Juulia TURKKILA / Matthias VERSLUIS 164.91

4) Justyna PLUTOWSKA / Jeremie FLEMIN 153.72

5) Chantelle KERRY / Andrew DODDS 145.43

etc

As usual, the K/S scores in Warsaw are in a world on their own.

Piper and Paul switch to Marina? So that they can have programs like the Lithuanians? No thanks

The Lithuanians clearly had superior programs here, but programs are not the problem for G/P. Their current programs suit them well enough and are in fact their forte. It’s Piper’s skating skills that are lacking and it’s unlikely she will ever improve if she hasn’t by now, and certainly not under Zueva.

Seeing S/K skate right after P/C emphasizes how weak Gabriella is compared to Cizeron. She literally gets stuck every time he lets go of her even for a moment. And it’s not like Sinitsina is a figure skating goddess either.

Zueva is good at packaging a team. She is not a technical coach

I don't think packaging is main G/P's problem.

I thought Zueva being an option for the Parsons.

R556, you are still not on board with "Papadakis has improved her skating skills' narrative?

My jaw just kind of dropped when I saw the Parsons skate to "Build a Home"--what the hell? Why would you ever want to make sure everyone compared you the 2016 World Champions, who are also skating at the same Grand Prix? Yes, send them to Zueva--she got the ShibSibs through the sexy rhumba without making anyone cringe. Zueva has taste. And since she was both Davis/Whites and Virtue/Moir's coach, I figure someone on her team deals well with technique. I was thinking of her for Piper and Paul because they and Lane love to do their own thing. Yes, Piper's weaker than Paul, but, as a team, they're a little careless about racking up the points. Their rhythm dance should have been a lot stronger. I think Zueva pays attention to details and how to actually win without creating a cookie-cutter team, which is a bit of the issue with Gadbois.

I think Papadakis' skating skills have improved--she and G. look good on the side by sides and twizzles, but I get the sense that she's not as athletic as some of the other girls--Tessa and Meryl clearly have killer core muscles and the balance that goes with that. Madison could probably lift Zach. Trade-off is that Gabriella does project a delicacy and femininity that's part of the whole P/C magic.

Shpilband was the one who was responsible for technique, R559 and he is no longer there...

Yes, Shpilband is the one who will you get the levels in good old days

Papadakis has improved but she still a prop for her partner to throw around. He is the whole team and she is just the for the ride.

If Igor got the levels, how come Marina's teams did better after the split than did Igor's. Madison Chock is hardly a great technician.

Re: Papadakis--she's good at bringing the drama to the P/C and making it seem like she and Guillaume have a big connection--contrast her to Piper or, for my all time anti-chemistry--Duchamel/Radford over in pairs. Since P/C's big strength is creating a moment, I think that does count for something, even if it's all on the performance side.

But if Gabriella quit ice dance, with whom would you partner Guillaume? He's tall, so there are lots of options. And, yes, it has to be a woman, so Adam Rippon isn't an option.

D/R's pairs partnership wasn't built on a traditional "connection" romance-adjacent partnership, but they were perfectly synchronized in terms of energy and interpretation. Of the whole batch of recent awful Canadians, they were easily the most pallatable. She's erudite and thoughtful. She speaks her mind, but unlike say Clompy McClopmerson Wagner, she has a level of introspection to back up her opinions. Meanwhile, he's artistic and musical. They were never going to be Sui/Han or Ekaterina/Sergei, but they were fine together.

Gabriella has definitely improved both in skating and in general movement. In fact, I think sometimes she's more in keeping with the music than he is. He is by far the best men's ice dancer of the past decade, but he can slide into euro-cheesefest sometimes with his interpretation. I wouldn't break up their partnership.

Paul Poirier could use just about anybody else and be successful. He's been an absolute waste of talent dictated mostly by circumstances.

Somebody earlier mentioned that Caroline Zhang should have spent more time in her youth working on skating fundamentals so she wouldn't lose the edge she had when she was a pre-teen. I think she would have been better served spending time working on telling gay from straight.

How do you judge the level? Cizeron is about equal to Katsalapov skating-wise and light years ahead of him in consistency. Just as obviously Katsalapov has superior dancing abilities and interpretation. Scott Moir wipes the floor with both of them in terms of presenting and connecting with his partner, both Cizeron and Katsalapov treat their partners as if they are props to be tolerated just because single dancing is not a thing yet.

Poirier has no one else to blame for his “circumstances” but himself - he never should have split up from Vanessa.

Who are all these women who are supposedly better than Gabriella Papadakis? Don't talk about Tessa...she is (fingers crossed) retired. Madison Hubbell is a strong skater...that's a debate we can have. But the rest of the GPF ladies? Do people really think that Sinitsina, Stepanova, Hawayek, Zahorski or Guignard are better than Gabriella? How about Madison Chock? Maia Shibutani? Sara Hurtado? Kaitlyn Weaver? (I do know she has fans who think she's better.) Piper Gilles? (LOL!) What about the new crop of kids...Rachel Parsons? Lorraine McNamara?

Gabriella is an excellent skater and ice dancer. She is not as physically strong as Tessa or Madison Hubbell -- you can tell that just by looking at her body. But she dances differently than they do and is the perfect partner for Guillaume. She butches him up. The whole world knows he's gay, and yet they are able to portray passion and romance better than all of these couples who are actually fucking.

LOL, R565, you sound crazy and Canadian. Nikita better at dancing and interpretation than Guillaume? Well, he does have the flailing arm thing down...he does that really well. Guillaume treating Gabriella like a prop? Uh...OK. I understand it's hard for Virtue/Moir ubers to process any sort of relationship on ice that isn't the written-in-the-stars soul deep bullshit that Tessa and Scott do...but Gabriella and Guillaume have great chemistry and connection when they skate. But feel free to continue to complain that Guillaume doesn't "present" his partner well...or that he and Gabriella don't have that man/woman dynamic that is supposedly so important in Ice Dance. Knock yourself out.

Though I totally agree with you about Paul Poirier. He should never have dumped Vanessa.

Virtue, Hubbell, Ilinykh are so much better than Gabriella, they are in a different league. Sinitsina, Zahorski, Guignard, Maia Shibitani, Weaver are still unquestionably better than Gabriella. Stepanova, Madison Chock are about on a par with her, and Sara Hurtado, Piper Gilles, Rachel Parsons are worse.

I know some P/C ubers find it difficult to wrap their head around the fact that it is possible to dislike both V/M and P/C. I remember the time when V/M were asked when they were going to be more like D/W and P/B and try something new and out of their comfort zone. To V/M’s credit, they did eventually, although I can’t say I like the result.

If you try to sell Gabriella’s weaknesses as strengh and say “This is her style! Her job is to make Cizeron look great!” why not mention that other skaters have their strong suits as well. Papadakis could never be as expressive as Sara Hurtado and never could pull off “quirky” like Piper Gilles.

I’m laughing into tears when reading the comment that almost every female counterpart in this year’s GP is better than Gabriella.

He ain't wrong R569. It is no secret DL is indifferent to Gabriella . She's a hag .

R568, Well I would, but we were discussing Papadakis/Cizeron, though I'm not sure pulling off "quirky" is really a strength, per se.

So, the consensus seems to be that Hubbell's a better ice dancer than Gabriella. I can't really see her with Guillaume though--she'd mop the floor with him.

Interestingly, I can visualize a wider range of partners for Paul Poirier. I kind of think Guillaume has to skate with Gabriella because she knows how to complement him (and they physically match up really well), but Paul could work with a number of other ice dancers.

I'd pay good money to see Ivan and Nikita skating together

Japan Junior National Championships

Junior Women

1 Yuhana Yokoi 181.84 FS: 119.98 (62.70+57.28)

2 Nana Araki 170.90 FS: 112.39 (60.59+52.80)

3 Tomoe Kawabata 158.16 FS: 106.11 (55.83+51.28)

Judges Scores: www.jsfresults. com /National/2018-2019/fs_j/nationaljunior/data0205.pdf

The BS Fuji broadcast was the first to implement [bold]“Ice Scope,”[/bold] figure skating technology used to estimate jump height, distance, and rotational speed in real-time. Youtube channel JPTV has video of the top three ladies and men. Wait until the replay to see Ice Scope in action.

Fujitsu has also developed a 3D sensory system that uses lasers to track gymnasts’ movements that will be used to assist judges in the FIG 2019 World Championships and 2020 Summer Olympics if successful. There is talk that the technology may be expanded to detect under-rotations in figure skating in the future. Video of the sensory system: www.youtube.com /watch?v=jHRQxtbh3uw

A clip of Ice Scope calculating Tomoe Kawabata’s triple lutz:

Sum of the GP scores for Ice Dance

1) Hubbell/Donohue 401.58

2) Stepanova/Bukin 399.52

3) Sinistina/Katsalapov 395.55

4) Guignard/Fabbri 388.59

5) Gilles/Poirier 375.71

6) Hawayek/Baker 366.10

7) Zagorski/Guerreiro 364.43

8) McNamara/Carpenter 357.23

9) Lauriault/Legac 350.96

10) Parsons/Parsons 349.81

11) Fear/Gibson 347.90

12) Hurtado/Khaliavin 346.51

13) Smart/Diaz 342.26t

14) Carreira/Ponomarenko 341.49

15) Wang/Liu 333.84

16) Soucisse/Firus 326.58

17) Kaliszek/Spodyriev 324.67

18) Popova/Mozgov 320.74

19) Tweedale/Buckland 315.19

20) Reed/Ambrulevicius 311.30

21) Nazarova/Nikitin 309.38

22) Skoptokova/Aleshin 307.95

23) Muller/Dieck 301.70

24) Komatsubara/Koleto 297.55

Papadakis/Cizeron would obviously be in the lead if they had skated at NHK

I guess Weawer/Poje are likely to be placed between Russians and Italians

I am not sure where Chock/Bates are likely to fill. In the group with G/B and G/P?

If they had 2 GPs, The Finns and the second Italians would probably be in Tweedale/Buckland and Reed/Ambrulevicius territory. Evdokimova/Bazin would probably be higher, around the Polish duo.

Everybody bar one team got the SB in Rhythm Dance at Tallin Trophy this evening. Not the fist time they throw candies in Tallin

But some got more candies than others though.

Anastasia SKOPTCOVA / Kirill ALESHIN (71.17) have beaten Christina CARREIRA / Anthony PONOMARENKO (69.58) who are almost tied to Natalia KALISZEK / Maksym SPODYRIEV (69.42)

Even Morozov/Bagin got 56 points.

Madison H I can buy as being better than Gabriella on both skating skills and dance ability, but she is inconsistent. She can go from dazzling to lurid in a second. She and Tessa have the same issue though, they can't match up with anybody who isn't a solid rock skater. Meryl Davis was just as strong physically as Tessa, and while Charlie was built like a brick, Meryl could have matched up with any skating style from Guillaume to Poirier to Zach, to Dmitiri to... well maybe anyone other than Alex Shib. That's why Meryl was the best female ice dancer since crazy Pasha G.

Gabriella would be ill-suited with a whole host of partners just like Tessa would be lacking outside of skating with somebody as strong as upright as Moir. That doesn't make her a bad skater or ice dancer. Her skating skills have definitely improved in the past 4 years, but her dancing ability has always been quite strong. She's far better than Piper Gilles in all criteria, and to even pretend that Madison Chock's skating skills are on par with any of the other top women is laughable.

>>>> Virtue, Hubbell, Ilinykh are so much better than Gabriella, they are in a different league.

Agree.

>>> Sinitsina, Zahorski, Guignard, Maia Shibitani, Weaver are still unquestionably better than Gabriella.

Only Maia and Charlene are clearly better IMO. Weaver? No. Not sure about Viktoria,

>>> Stepanova, Madison Chock are about on a par with her, and Sara Hurtado, Piper Gilles, Rachel Parsons are worse.

Gabriella is way better than those

Evidence of Gabriella's better skating skills (1:37)

BTW does anyone else love Jean Luc Baker? He is sooooo good.

Cizeron was the only one who got a Level 4 in the One Foot Step Sequence (which is basically what R577 has linked) last Saturday. Baker, Legac, Parsons Boy and Diaz got Level 3. All other men got Level 2

No women got Level 4. Papadakis and Hawayek got Level 3. All others were level 2. Olivia Smart got Level 1

Are levels even indicative of skill these days?

Nobody talking about this masterpiece? The long isn't as good unfortunately...

r581 Unfortunately, because Jason can't get his technical elements up I don't think he's ever going to be anything but a great exhibition skater. Had he started earlier he might have been one of the world's great pairs skaters because his skating and interpretation are world class, but he just doesn't have what it takes to compete on the international level where it counts. Gone are the days where Mr. Vera Wang could get by without a quad and still medal internationally.

Pity the pro and exhbition circuit don't really exist anymore. Jason could have taken over the Scott Hamilton Greatest Showman mantle. It helps that he's a much more appealing person than Hamilton too.

r577 Maia might be a better technician than Gabby, but she's a mediocre dancer. She's neither a great lyric interpreter nor a good classical ballroom stylist. I miss the days when there was more diversity in ice dancing. Now its all lyric contemporary mush music. Even the teams that used to at least try to fall outside the Coffee House / Movie Score Hot 100 are becoming more generic. Is it just going to be 15 theme's on star-crossed lovers from here on out? At least we can count on Russia doing star-crossed lovers but one of them is blind/a midget/lives in reverse/only has one arm/whatever crazy gimmick they think of next.

Somehow I made it through the nearly 2-hour TSL podcast--and somehow they were discussing the relative strengths of Gabriella v. other female ice dancers and the heavy Russian politicking in ice dance judging this season. I felt like this thread had metastatized over to YouTube.

Anyway, I guess the Russians are pushing like crazy to get their teams on the podium after a long drought. Which means I'll have to go watch their programs.

[quote] Is it just going to be 15 theme's on star-crossed lovers from here on out?

we will break into the top 15 with our 70s Disco program. Sadly we can't do a Tango to save our life and so we will finish 15th

R582, except the new GOE system will be good for Jason evidenced by him scoring first without quads over someone who performed 2 quads but lacked quality

R582 the new GOE system is good for Jason because it allowed him to outscore someone with quads based on the quality of all the non quad elements

The new GOE system actually helped Jason score higher than someone with 2 quads in the short though, R582

in Tallin everybody got a SB.

Changes compared to their previous SB in brackets.

Carreira/Ponomarenko 180.22 (+3)

Skoptcova/Aleshin 179.78 (+20)

Kaliszek/Spodyriev 178.43 (+15)

Evdolkimova/Bazin 168.3 (+4)

Popova/Bylikov 154.42 (+12)

Urban/Steffan 154.27 (+4 * with a fall)

Morozov/Bagin 148 (+15)

Manni/Roethilsberger 138.81 (+7)

Bunina/Frolov 132.52 (+16)

Shit, accidentally posted 3 times

Just read from CNN that Javier will retire in January after European Championships. He is a showman and audience favorite and will probably tour years to come.

Jeez, I miss JFernandez. The current crop of men do nothing for me.

Karen Chen has been outscored by Pernille Sorensen, whoever she is, in the SP in Tallin

Ting Cui scored 67. Karen is at 52.9

New modelling photo of Paul Poirier in tight, black shorts: : )

r549 Paurier Underwear - for wearing on those starry starry nights, and picking off the floor on those starless starless mornings.

Paul Poirier's ass in black undies:

Another nice one of Paul's assets:

Karen Chen withdrew. What a joke.

She flew all the way to frickin' Finland for the SP? She's trying to outcrazy Gracie Gold.

Tallinn is not in Finland.