Figure Skating XX

In the latest news, Karen Chen travels all the way to Estonia to withdraw from the Tallin Trophy after the SP. Vincent Zhou grabs the silver but not before getting numerous carrots, proving he's still the king of underrotation.

British Nationals is happening today and tomorrow, any other competitions taking place this weekend?

[quote] British Nationals is happening today and tomorrow, any other competitions taking place this weekend?

Christmas Cup in Hungary, Bosphorus Cup and Open of Andorra are taking place

R2 do you know if any of those events are being steamed online?

Re-posting Paul Poirier's photo shoot for those who didn't see it at the end of the last thread:

VM fans are having a meltdown on Twitter and it's hilarious!

Apparently Scott Moir showed up at some event with his real life girlfriend so VM fans are taking razor blades to their wrists. I guess no one ever told them about the term "ship baiting" and that Tessa V. is the Queen of it. VM are going to find out pretty quickly that fans weren't nearly as interested in their lifts and edges as they were in their fake romance.

I'll be surprised if they get more than a dozen fans to show up for their next "Thank You Once Again, Canada" tour.

R3 Bosphorus Cup is livestreamed here

Kvitalashvili leads after SP

Some Italian girls are leading in Ladies

Rhythm Dance was over-scored in order to get the Turkish couple over the minimum TES

Who is Moir's real girlfriend--a skater? I never found them a romantic or sexy couple on ice. I mean I guess compared to Meryl and Charlie (though I always liked that they had a bit of a Mickey and Judy putting a show-on-in-the-barn vibe), but seriously, I always thought, Who are you kidding? A lot of ice-dancing fans, I guess.

Glad Zhou had a decent outing.

Was rewatching some of the ice-dancing skates from the various Grand Prix--I know the Russians are pushing two of their teams like crazy, but I think H/D's power and speed is going to save them despite the choice of FS. The TSL guys said they'd heard that G&P don't skate big if you see them live. Is that true? I'd heard that of the Shibs and it was true when I saw them. Hawayek/Baker are petite, but they skate with everything they've got, not surprised to see them moving up.

[quote]The TSL guys said they'd heard that G&P don't skate big if you see them live. Is that true?

I don't know, but I'd like to get closer to Paul Poirier's body:

R7- It sounds like Moir's gf is his first skating partner. I thought their skating relied too much on sexy poses and fake kisses but I guess they managed to sell it to fans. Until now.

R9 I thought V/M have been together since they were kids. Who could possibly be his first (serious) skating partner other than Tessa?

R10- Her name is Jackie something and it sounds like she was his partner for about 10 minutes. Too funny! Looks like VM made lots of money on their personal skating tour so they should invest it wisely because fans are leaving like rats fleeing a sinking ship.

R11 I just checked his wiki and it says he was paired with Tessa when he was nine..... Has he really been in a secret relationship since he was a toddler with some other toddler he was paired with before Tessa? Or did he leave Tessa and was paired with someone else at one point? I don't remember this.

Nice timing there

I remembered in French GP there were close up shots to G&P’s moves, none of them were clean... They have quite awful techniques.

Ah, the Turkish ice dance couple fails to make the minimum TES for Worlds by 0.25 in Istanbul this afternoon. Even all the +2/+3 by Yuri Balkov were enough. And that is only because she fell in the middle of the one foot step sequence and he fell out of a twizzle.

They still have chances to get it but an over-scored home competition was probably the perfect event.+

Them failing to go to 2019 Worlds would mean Turkey not having chances to be drawn for judging panel at 2020 Worlds.

the whole competition was so over-scored that the final result was

Sofia EVDOKIMOVA / Egor BAZINt 177.71

Shari KOCH / Christian NUECHTERN 174.86

Adeline GALAYAVIEVA / Louis THAURON166.94

Carolina MOSCHENI / Andrea FABBRIt 166.29

Emiliya KALEHANOVA / Uladzislau PALHKHOUSKIt 148.45

Victoria MANNI / Carlo ROETHLISBERGER 144.45

Nicole KELLY / Berk AKALIN 140.36

Anastasia SHAKUN / Daniil RAGIMOVt130.10

For Germany the result doesn't count for Euro/World internal race (only Challenger and GPs count + Nationals). For Italy it does count.

R11- He was paired with Jackie Mascarin before he was paired with Tessa Virtue in 1997. It doesn't appear as though he's been in contact with Mascarin until recently.

R16 That's super random. It's like the equivalent of hooking up with that one boy from elementary school when you´re in your 30's already. Did this Jackie even continue ice dancing?

R17- There's not a lot of info on her except that she lives in Florida. The theory seems to be that Moir got close to her after her grandmother's funeral and she had just broken a long time relationship. VM fans are freaking because he showed up with her at some event the other night.

Wow and Virtue/Moir are being honored at Canada's Walk of Fame ceremony. Awkward timing.

This is like a soap opera, only funnier. Now the theory is that the girl in the pic isn't Jackie Whatever but some girl named Diana Matheson who is involved in Special Olympics and that's who Scott is dating.

[quote]I remembered in French GP there were close up shots to G&P’s moves, none of them were clean... They have quite awful techniques.

Actually, the European commentators were very complimentary about G&P's skating in France.

Former French ice dancer Nathalie Péchalat praised G&P quite a lot.

I forgot about these 2. I can't wait for Alex's favorite collections!

He "curated a favorite gift guide"--okay, not straight.

I must have the bear sweater! Mommy will love it!

Paul's assets:

British National Championships winners

Men: Graham Newberry

Ladies: Natasha McKay

Pairs: Jones/Boyadji

Ice Dance: Lilah Fear/Lewis Gibson (Robynne Tweedale/Joseph Buckland runner up for the second Euro spot)

National Championships season calendar

France: 13-15 December

Italy: 13-15 December

Sweden: 13-16 December

Austria: 13-16 December

Four Nations it is Poland, Hungary, Czech and Slovakia rolled together): 13-15 December

Spain: 14-16 December

Finland: 15-16 December

Switzerland: 15-16 December

Russia: 19-23 December

Japan: 20-24 December

Germany: 22-23 December

Canada: 13-20 January

USA: 19–27 January

Paul Poirier's IG says they have arrived for the Golden Spin of Zagreb:

Bradie Tennell has also arrived, per her story that expires in 3 hours.

Jason Brown looks ready to compete.

Min/Gamelin bitchfest update

Gamelin reported Min to the ISU Disciplinary Commission. However, ISU refused to get involved saying the complaint was done too late

From ISU Communication:

This complaint alleged that defamatory statements about the Complainant had been published by Ms. Min on her social media and Instagram, and on numerous international media outlets between 18 and 24 July 2018.

On 8 August 2018, Attorney-at-Law Mr. B., who was representing the Complainant, demanded that Ms. Min cease and desist from making defamatory statements about the Complainant and to also cease and desist from causing others to do so.

Therefore, the Complainant must have learned of the facts of the Complaint on or before 8 August 2018. However, the Complaint was received at the ISU Office on 27 November 2018. This means it was not within the time limit of 60 days from (at the latest) 8 August 2018. Therefore, the Complaint is out of time and is inadmissible

Technical Controller for Ice Dance at GP Final is David Molina from France

Technical Specialists are Judy Blumberg from USA and György Elek from Hungary

Blumberg was a world medallist in the 80s. Gyorgy is the less good of the Elek siblings. He did a couple of Worlds and Euros in 2006-07, barely getting into top 20 at Euros.

Alla Shekhovtsova is the referee

Sounds good for Hubbell/Donohue. Does Marie-France have clout with the French when P/C aren't involved? I assume so.

I suppose the ref can try to ding non-Russians for pattern timing, but that's about it.

R32 Molina and Marie France are sort of buddies. He used to tweet her the likes of "I will soon be in Quebec, it has been a long time, we should meet, blah blah"

Elek is the TS and Blumberg is the Assistant TS. So he will look at the Ladies, she will look at the Men in the Twizzles, One Foot Step Sequence and Tango Pattern. But anyway the others can call for a review if they are unconvinced by the first call.

So Hanyu's out of the Grand Prix. Will it be Nathan or Shomo on top?

I suppose Zags, Kihira and Satoko? if everyone skates clean.

Not only is Bradie Tennell the highest ranked American at no. 10 in the GP standings, she's the highest non-Russian, non-Japanese skater. So, that gives her a clean shot at 7th at Worlds just with current rankings, but if she stabilizes that opening triple-triple, she should be able to move up. She got her bronze in a tough field after blowing an easier medal at Skate America.

SP starting orders

Messing

Cha

Brezina

Chen

Voronov

Uno

______

Samodurova

Tuktamysheva

Kihra

Miyahara

Sakamoto

Zagitova

___ Pavliuchenko/Khodykrin

Peng/Jin

Della Monica/Guarise

break

James/Cipres

Zabijako/Enbert

Tarasova/Morozov

__________

Sinistina/Katsalapov

Hawayker/Baker

Zagorski/Guerreiro

break

Stepanova/Bukin

Hubbell/Donohue

Guignard/Fabbri

Starting orders for Juniors

Gumennik-Gogolev-Shimanda-Pulkinen-Siao-Hiwatashi

Tarakonova-Shcherbakova-Kanysheva-Kim-Trusova-Kostornaia

Akhanteva/Kolesov-Feng/Nyman-Mishina/Galliamov-Panfilova/Rylov-Poulianova/Sopot-Kostiukovich/Ialin

Kazakova/Reviya-Khudaiberdieva/Nazarov-Nguyen/Kolenskin-Shevchenko/Eremenko-Lajoie/Lagha-Ushakova/Nekrasov

I'd say that last is a fine spot for Uno, but less so for Zags--she's been overscored and the Japanese girls are cleaner skaters than the Russians. Sakamoto may not have the power of other skaters, but she's as refined as a skater gets. The ISU does want it to be Zags though, so if she skates clean, she probably has it.

Last is good for Tarasova/Morozov. Hubbell/Donohue's position is also good--after S/B, so their speed and power will create a good contrast if they're clean.

Hawayek/Baker need somebody to fumble to move up--the Russians are gunning full-force --while I don't think it will be enough to bump a clean H/D, I do think it will keep H/B down.

I would predict

1.H/D

2. S/B

3. S/K

4. G/F

5. H/B

6. Z/G

Sounds about right. With more Russian judges, 1 and 2 and 5 and 6 would switch.

R39 Judges for Ice Dance are: USA, Russia, Italy, Canada, Georgia, Japan, France, Spain and Ukraine

Finland renounced to their judge spot. Spain and Ukraine got it because they have alternates (Ukraine have one of the alternates in Junior Dance)

Green/Green made their season international debut at Golden Spin yesterday. They scored 62.49 in the Tango

Pairs at Golden Spin

Efimova/Korovin 65.84

Cain/LeDuc 64.34

Knierim/Knierim 64.04

Hase/Seegert 62.97

Stellato/Bartholomay 60.12 (they have a new SP)

Hocke/Blommaert 59.34

GP Finals--SP

Damn, Rika Kihira blew past the competition with that triple axel. Bye-bye Zags. When you skate clean and your technical score is still five points behind, change is in the air.

Nathan looked like he was almost enjoying himself 'til that stumble, then back to manly scowling. He should take some performance lessons from Javier.

I hope the era of the ZagMed is coming to a close. It pains me to watch Zag doing her acrobatic step sequence, she looks like a robot trying to figure skate. And why can't she hold a position for more than a god damn second?!

Well, Zag was going to have a hard time beating Trusova next year, it's just happening a little earlier than expected. She needs mistakes from the skaters with higher tech content to win.

Bradie Tennell scored 71.50 at Golden Spin. SP is currently still going on. They are 37 entries. They started at 8.45 AM and are supposed to finish at 13.45. Mariah Bell skates in the last group

Bell 67.82. 4th place. PCS higher than Bradie

Mariah Bell is 4th again, she's been 4th or 5th at every competition this season. Will she finally pull into the medals tomorrow or remain always a bridesmaid, never a bride?

Gilles/Poirier Tango at Golden Spin

79.80

Scores are not updated live....from the announcer ..if I heard him correctly

Polish duo got 66 points

Kock/Nochtern 65

Yanosvakaya/Lucakz 64

Tweedale/Buckland, Popova/Mogzov and Muller/Dieck were all 61.something

I'm watching Golden Spin now and finding some of the musical choices bizarre. I mean, I like 80s music like Take on Me just as much as anyone else, but it's not exactly an interesting piece to interpret on ice.

[R43] Chen looks like he has wanted to be anywhere else during his competitions this season. Just quit and do the college thing exclusively if you don't enjoy skating.

[R44] It's not enjoyable watching Alina this season. Her extensions are horrible and she doesn't hold any position. Ugly skating.

R51 I have just finished a Kazak boy skating on some French Romeo and Juliet song mixed with something sounding very early 90's pop

Meanwhile, Javier Raya is still around...I mean on ice, not on grindr

why do they use some random dated songs during the replays instead of the music used by skaters?

Now we have I wanna wanna touch you, you wanna to touch me too....over Raya's slow mo and kiss and cry

Dimitrescu literally crashed into the boards

Apparently Karen Chen has changed the FS. She already changed the SP. Maybe twice. I lost track

R49, I'd love to Tango with Paul Poirier:

Karen Chen is, once again, playing switch the program instead of fixing her damn skating skills. She needs to quit looking for the perfect program and work on getting in shape and not fighting with her bootmaker. But, what the hell, she's another mental case.

Tennell skated really early (again). Third out of 37. Class act of the competition. Bell did well and is naturally a more fluid, graceful skater, but less solid. The more basic music (Celine Dion, I think) suits her--probably because she's from Oklahoma.

Golden Spin is basically a bunch of fairly bad skaters and a handful of GP also-rans.

I'd love to see the end of the Eteri dominance--hate that hunched-bent-legged skating. Kihira was so powerful that there was no question about how much better she was. It wasn't like Miyahara's small, beautiful skating or Mirai Nagasu skating around, doing a 3A and then nothing else. I love that the Japanese girls actually know how to skate.

Zueva is opening a school in Florida according to Oleg Opstein's interview to some Russian media

Some passages from the interview

Interviewer: Spilband told me in Vancouver the new ice dance rules made the dance easier than before. They demand the lightness and not complexity. Do you agree?

OE: I would put it differently: the contemporary ice dance demands lightness, but in a technically complicated programmes. Take the French: they are skating so easily the viewer doesn't even imagine how hard are the things they do on the ice. The goal of every programme is projecting an idea. If there is no idea inside it will never be appreciated.

....

Interviewer: As a professional do you have an explanation how Papadakis/Cizeron remain unreachable skating for the 4th year more or less the same programme?

OE: They are brilliant in showing what they can do, and boy, they can do a lot. They have amazingly developed knees, great technique, they can make real any choreographer's dream. They are in a constant search of the new choreography and pick the ones they can do on the ice better than anyone else. In a number of occasions I heard the judges that during Papadakis/Cizeron skate they forget they are supposed to mark it enjoying it so much.

Interviewer: I know you are biased but... was the French's 2nd place at the Olympics true?

OE: I think so. In Tessa/Scott's skating there was an incredible inner energy. They were going on the ice as if to their last battle. It was obvious to everyone who watched the skate. The judges included. The French lacked that.

Interviewer: What can you say about the GPF favourites Hubell/Donohue?

OE: I find them a bit heavy. Yet they are so consistent, so well taught, and so confident - they are past the time when they could make a stupid mistake.

Interviewer: What do you thin are the strong and the weak side of the first Russian team - Stepanova/Bukin?

OE: They skate powerfully, move really well, but... You know, in all the years I spent working with Tessa and Scott for me the way they were looking at each other was the way it should be. It's what I miss the most when watching Stepanova/Buking skating.

Efimova/Korovin wins Pairs at GS. Knierim/Knierim second ahead of Stellato/Bartholomey. Cain/LeDuc drops way behind in the FS, below also Haase/Segart

Cain/Le Duc fell during a lift

she went down with her head

it is at around 3.20

OMG R62

Some are complaining the referee didn't stop the program when she was lying on the ice

The struggle for US Pairs continues . . .

0.01 differnece between winner and second place in Junior Ice Dance

0.03 between third and fourth

How are Papadakis/Cizeron untouchable for four years when they lost to Virtue/Moir? I'm all for hype, but c'mon.

I do think they're untouchable among the current group of ice dancers. Not so with any of the others--I think H/D will stay in second, for the time being, but they're going to need better programs to stay there after this season.

Cain-LeDuc--OMG. She could have broken her neck. That's a terrible fall.

Where can one find ALL of that foxy French Canadian's photos?

R62 The Referee should have stopped them but LeDuc also shouldn't have gotten her up.

R69, I'll try to find the rest of the Paul Poirier photo shoot.

R69, here are some more of the Paul Poirier photos:

Paul P:

Paul P:

Paul P:

Paul P:

Paul P:

Well, that's interesting--the Italians are in second behind Hubbell/Donohue after the rhythm dance. Wasn't predicting that, but the GP just got a bit more interesting.

R70- I'm surprised that pairs skaters aren't taught that if their partner falls and remains flat on the ice, that they aren't supposed to move them.

I remember Hough and Ladret had a collision at Canadian Nationals one year where Hough smacked her head on the ice pretty badly. But she did get up by herself- then Doug had to basically drag her back to the boards.

Peng/Jin leading Pairs SP. DIdn't expect this either. I guess she will make 2 falls tonight

Stepanova/Bukin were put first in PCS by Russia, Ukraine and Japan. The Japanese judge also put them first in GOE

Guignard/Fabbri and Zagorski/Guerreiro had the highest base values. Both got one all key points in one Tango pattern (hence level 4). Stepanova/Bukin have the first pattern at Base value

S/B got some +3 and one +4 on their base value Tango pattern (and the key points are 7 out of the 18 steps)

R67...not sure the interviewer was hyping the French when the question was basically "how can they be unreachable after 4 years of doing the same program?"

It's so funny to me. In the last quad, the Shibutanis did a fucking trilogy, including two Coldplay songs, and their 4th routine was a boring Blue Danube that was about the same tempo and used similar lifts, twizzles and spins. And yet no one says a peep about them. This criticism is only really given to P/C.

Meanwhile at the GPF, Stepanova/Bukin had their chance. A better tango and they'd probably be in 1st or right there with H/D. Hard to see Guignard/Fabbri staying on the podium unless one of the Russian teams messes up. That point lead isn't big enough.

R81...I definitely think the scoring system needs some adjusting. Especially for the required rhythm. Missing key points has to have a bigger penalty. Otherwise, what is the point?

Gilles/Poirier in Zagreb: 121 FD. Total score 201.27

They win by a landslide. Second place is Kaliszek/Spodyriev with 170 points ahead of Popova/Mozgov and Koch/Nuchtern, both with 165.

A 97 points FD even for Morozov/Bagin with Components over 7

Nathan's quad lutz was a major splatfest, but I guess he had enough PCS and base value to win anyway. Or was his short that much better than Uno's? It's pretty clear Nathan's not quite keeping up the training 100 percent while at Yale. He's going to end up with a major injury if he's not careful.

R82, The Shibs never got past silver at Worlds and lost the U.S. championships their last season, so the question may not have been asked as often, but I think they were held down because they weren't an exciting team. The first Coldplay was a big exception.

r84 Chen's SP was about 1 point better than Uno's , PCS 2 points lower than Uno's. Chen was overscored on GOEs like a boss, especially on non-jump elements, but given how Uno skated, Chen probably would have won even without the overscoring. I guess judges took precautions just in case Uno skated well.

Is Uno always doomed to be the bridesmaid but never the bride?

Ugh I hate the quad fest of men skating. A GPF and no one skated clean.

Thanks for posting these...I love his body. I have a fetish for butts and shapely legs on men.

Thanks R85, I'm that rare fan who actually likes Nathan's skating--his music choices are interesting and he's found a way to make his angular, unsleek, style work with it. But that was not great skating.

Looks like Bradie Tennell won the Golden Spin, even though she fell on her last jump--seemed like she was tired at and just didn't get the right take-off. Looked like Mariah Bell was coming in third--it's a bit sad, she's by herself in the Kiss 'n Cry since Raf and co. are at the Grand Prix, but her skating's been quite good, so maybe she does a bit better being ignored.

The American Ladies Worlds team is looking more and more like it will be Bradie and Mariah, which seems so old-school--two white girls in their 20s.

[quote]I'm surprised that pairs skaters aren't taught that if their partner falls and remains flat on the ice, that they aren't supposed to move them.

US Pairs are not known for being the best skaters in the field. They have a lot of issues. It's been many years since a US Pair has been on the World podium.

The US Pair withdraws from the Junior GP final.

Pulkinen bombed the FS yesterday and dropped from first to 5th (he would have not won anyway but podium was doable). Only the other American was behind him

well, the US dance couple have beaten the Georgians

[quote]Gilles/Poirier in Zagreb: 121 FD. Total score 201.27

[quote]They win by a landslide.

I'm happy for Gilles and hot ass Poirier.

I rarely watch women’s skating because I find it boring. Today I did and have a question. Why many of them jump with on hand up? It looks ridiculous.

because the guidelines for Grade of Execution used to have (until last season) "varied position in the air" as one of the bullet points. So the hand over the head could have got them more points.

It is not in the bullet points anymore. So I hope they will decrease now

[quote]Cain/Le Duc fell during a lift

Scary scary fall.

Damn, this team just can't catch a break. They have the potential but seem to always have weird mistakes almost every time they compete.

I'm afraid a fall like this (if she isn't injured from it) is going to really shake their confidence leading into nationals.

One arm up is a tano; two arms up is a Rippon. Tanos nearly always look bad, a Rippon can look nice in kind a of sugarplum fairy way.

I like the rule changes as far as Ladies goes--no more godawful superbackloading by Eteri and co.

R95, Cain/Le Duc look like they are too close in height.

Is she bigger than the typical female pairs skater?

Her bio says she's 5'6"--so, yeah--she's tall for any kind of skater, really tall for a pairs skater. Usually, the only female skaters that tall are ice dancers.

R98, thanks for the info.

That confirms what I thought. She's too tall to be a female pairs skater.

That probably explains why they are at risk for falls and for him dropping her.

They may have to end their partnership for safety reasons.

Gotta say, not trying to lay any blame on Timothy at all (scary falls happen sometimes in pairs) but his reaction in the moment was quite alarming if you ask me. I was quite shocked he lifted Ashley from the neck after her fall. As a pairs skater, you would think he'd know not to move a person's head after a fall like that. That could've potentially had some serious consequences if Ashley were severely injured. Hopefully, this will be learning experience for him.

On the flip side, I hope he doesn't develop a complex over this. I remember he spoke about facing homophobic remarks from people who said that, because he is gay, he wasn't strong enough to be a pairs skater and would drop his partner.

In the end, most importantly, I just hope Ashley is ok and makes a full recovery.

So so so.....Guignard/Fabbri manage to stay on the podium leaving Stepanova/Bukin in 4th place. Both Hubbell/Donohue and Sinistina/Katsalapov scores 124 in the FS. S/K win Technical score. Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, France and Canada place them ahead in the FS.

It is stupid that now G/F are magically became good while they were "one of the others" until last season. And that is only because Cappellini/Lanotte retired. It is not that they are young and therefore they can explain the increased marks with improvements. They are 30 years old.

However, I am happy for their bronze. They are not naturally gifted skaters. It is all a product of hard work

Pairs... I am starting to get bored by James/Cipres. Happy Peng landed her jumps. Poor girl always seem terrified in K&C. P/J rightly beat Tarasaova/Morozov in PCS

Being openly gay never kept Eric Radford from tossing around Megan Duchamel. People suck. And, yeah, poor Ashley. I'm glad she's not paralyzed.

So Hubbell/Donohue banged out their win--I like the changes they've made to their FD, even if it does mean interpreting Romeo and Juliet as some sort of power couple. Meanwhile, Stepanova/Bukin look like they were trying to do a version of H/D's FD from last year--down to the scratchy-voiced bluesy vocals. Doesn't suit them, though--they came off as Eurotrash. And, somehow, the Italians snuck in for the Bronze. Some pushback on the Russian power-push. Overall, not a great GP for the Russians--I doubt that a couple of silvers and bronzes were what they had in mind going in.

Yay, James/Cipres. If I can't have Sui/Han, I'm happy to see James/Cipres skate well--they basically stuck around an extra season because they have a shot at Worlds.

It's not unheard of for female skaters to be 5'6", Bradie Tennell is that height, but female pairs skaters tend to be quite petite.

I am struggling to find another current pair girl over 1.65cm

Zabjiano is 1.64cm (with Enbert 1.89cm)

The Russian girl of the pair that finished last at GPF is 1.48cm

So apparently P/C and H/B have the same one foot step sequence

R105...Marie-France is getting lazy.

Time for a Zueva or Igor resurgence.

R102 Didn’t they get all but two medals of the junior GPF? I believe it was also the first GPF medal in ten years in ice dance for them, so all in all, I doubt they were too heartbroken.

Yeah, they did fine in the juniors, but juniors aren't the major league.

But Alena Korstornaia is awesome! And she beated Trusova.

I hope Kostornaia becomes the new face of Russian ladies and push the Zagmed out. Her skating is gorgeous. BTW who's the hot Japanese guy sitting next to Rika in the K&C? He's a handsome fella.

I'm thinking about attending the World Figure Skating Championships in Montreal in 2020. Anyone have any idea what ballpark range the cost of tickets would be? I remember them being exorbitant when I looked at prices in Los Angeles back in 2009, but thinking they might be less in Montreal since everything in LA is so expensive.

Kostornaia's fabulous--someone get her some real choreography instead of the Eteri element mash-up. Somehow Eteri got a Russian with actual skating skills and jumps. She could survive puberty.

R112, I went to the Boston Worlds and I think an all-event ticket was $500-ish. I usually don't buy a ticket to the Gala after a big event like Nationals because by then I've had enough of skating. There's nothing online that I could find about ticket prices yet.

Thanks R112. Those ticket prices are much more reasonable than when I looked at LA 2009, where they cost at least 3-4 times that! Did you have decent seats?

I could be way off on how much the tickets were now that I think of it. Maybe the $500 was for US Nationals. But I got seats up several rows. I'd rather be a little farther from the ice than up close. I think you can see better 8 or 10 rows up. I thought of it as a once-in-a-lifetime trip. Watching the practices and meeting other fans was a lot of fun.

Sites like Goldenskate usually have information on when ticket sales start.

[quote]Thanks for posting these...I love his body. I have a fetish for butts and shapely legs on men.

R88, you mean the Paul Poirier photo shoot pics?

I think good all-event tickets for Worlds migh cost around $1000. I vaguely remember upper-bowl tix in Boston being $600. In Helsinki golden tix were €1000, in Milan you could get silver zone for that.

$1000 range for top notch seats also sounds reasonable. I was expecting prices to be more in the $2000-3000 range. My partner is from the Montreal area and wants to go back and visit at some point, so it may work out well for us to go if we can save enough money.

Boston all event top notch seat tix were closer to $1600USD.

It is National Championships week:

France: Aymoz vs Ponsart and Lecavelier vs Meitè are possibly the most anticipated fights. Ice Dance and Pairs are a given. Second Pair spot at Euro won't be used

Italy: Rizzo vs Grassl. If Rizzo stays on his feet, they will give the title to him through PCS. No Kostner, Ladies Euro spots are open. Third Pair spot at Euros won't be used as only 2 pairs are entered in Senior. Dance ranking seem settled. Glada Russo will debut in Ice Dance

Finland: Peltonen vs Lindfors bitchfight

Sweden: zzzz. Will young Majorov get second Euro spot with his brother?

Israel: will the rink large enough this year?

4 Nations: Brezina not entered. Rajcova is back

Switzerland: debut of Stephan Walker in Ice Dance. Paganini will take Ladies. Is Britishgi their top man?

Austria: Meierhofer vs Zandron (when is he eligible in international competition?)

Spain: no Fernandez. The Ice Dance drama should be entertaining. Is the Fed still favoring Smart/Diaz?

Ladies SP at French Nationals

Meite 66.58

Lecavelier 60.24

Same PCS. Meite did a 3+3 while Lecavelier only 3+2. Meite got level 4 on all spins while Lecavelier had one level 3 and one level 2

Matyas Behloradsky leads at 4 Nationals after the men's SP with only 67.41. How sad. Ekaterina Kurakova will debut here for Poland, so that should be interesting.

Dave from TSL had Katia Gordeeva on his show, but he did not take the chance to ask her if Sergei's death was due to steroids. Pity

I never heard anything about that except from Dave himself so it's clearly bullshit.

Meite has won in France.

Aymoz leads Ponsart by 20 points after SP

[quote] Ekaterina Kurakova will debut here for Poland, so that should be interesting.

Kurakova 57.76

Brezinova 56.10

Hugec 55.10

Toth 51.05

Ice Dance

Natalia KALISZEK / Maksym SPODYRIEV 67.95

Anna YANOVSKAYA / Ádám LUKÁCS 64.46

Justyna PLUTOWSKA / Jeremie FLEMIN 56.06

Livestream for 4 Nations Is here

P/C's RD at French nationals. The camera work is actually better than at most real competitions -- and they shoot a lot of it from different angles so you get to see the flip side of much of the routine. Very good. Just need to tighten up the pattern a little. And I am assuming (and hoping) Guillaume's shirt is just temporary. It's not nearly as sexy as the lace.

French Nationals

1) Meite 186.46

2) Lecavelier 177.54

3) Frostsicher 149.25

Men

1) Aymoz 262.65

2) Siao Fa 226.36

3) Tesson 204.61

Dance

1) Papadakis/Cizeron 220.95

2) Lauriault/Legac 178.95

3) Galyavieva/Thuaron 154.89 (lost FD to Wagret/Souquet)

Ponsart withdrew after SP

France have 2 spots at Euros for both Men and Ladies

The 2 Ladies choice are a given. Aymoz will be there. I guess they would go for Ponsart anyway as second man. Fa will do Junior Worlds. But French Fed is French Fed, they can do whatever they want and get away with it

Senior Worlds spots will be decided after Euros.

Rhythm Dance at Spanish Nationals

Smart/Diaz 69.86

Hurtado/Khaliavin 69.37

If I heard the scores correctly in Spain

RD in Italy ...everything as epected

1) Guignard/Fabbri 82.48 2) Tessari/Fioretti 66.52 3) Moscheni/Fabbri 60.52 4) Calederone/Papetti 58.22 5) Russo/Garcia 53.16

TES was for Hurtado/Khaliavin by 1 point. PCS were for Smart/Diaz by 1 point. The base value was in H/K favor by 3 points. Technical Panel is not Spanish (Technical Controller is Leanna Caron from Skate Canada and the Specialist is British). Judges are 4/5 Spanish. The not Spanish judge was the one with the lowest gap between S/D and H/K.

FINLAND

Virtanen lost the SP to Galay

Lindfors 62 Peltonen 58 in Ladies SP

SWEDEN

Old Majorov 82 Young Majorov 71 the third place is at 55

Algotsson leading easily among Ladies

AUSTRIA

Zandron 82 Meierhofer 71

Zandron's last competition for Italy is 11th February 2018. So he can't go to Euros. He can go to Worlds

4 NATIONS

Matyas Belohradsk wins with 206 points. Ihor Raznichenko is the top Polish man

SWITZERLAND

Paganini lost SP to Lehmann

Britschigi leading among Men with 71. Sahaka second with 68

Héctor Alonso Serrano (75) is leading Javier Raya (64) in Spain

Lucrezia Beccari (58.57) wins the SP in Italy. Alessia Tornaghi (57) is second and Lara Guttman (55.37) is third

Hurtado/Khaliavin 180.16

Smart/Diaz 178.68

who will have the bitchiest reaction? Olivia, Madison, Zach or Adria?

Olivia always wins, R133.

I even smiled

I find it a bit odd that Diaz is getting married to Madison Hubbell.

He seems so timid compared to Madison. And too short for her.

I have to say Smart and Diaz where the better couple and should have won. I think this is the first time they skate decently.

Why did Hurtado and Diaz split anyway? Is it true that they used to be a couple, then broke up and Diaz started dating Hubbell and she was walking around naked in Hurtado and Diaz’s shared apartment, and then Sara said “sorry, it’s not working” and walked away in the middle of some competition, right after the SD?

r138 Well, that would at leat explain it better than the vague "it didn't work out because it wasn't working and we didn't feel it" Hurtado gave in an interview.

SWEDEN team for European Championships:

Anna Ostlund, Alexander Majorov, Nikolaj Majorov

SWISS team

Alexia Paganini, Yasmine Kimiko Yamada, Lukas Britschgi, Victoria Manni/Carlo Röthlisberger

NORWAY:

Camilla Gjersem, Sondre Boe

GREAT BRITAIN:

Natasha McKay, Graham Newberry, Zoe Jones/Chris Boyadji, Lilah Fear/Lewis Gibson, Robynne Tweedale/Joe Buckland.

Interview with Zhulin

a bit bitching towards everybody...the Russian media talking about S/B, P/C doing the same dance over and over, Kihira being colorless, Zagitova's SS being crap, Medvedeva's programs not suiting her, the Russian GPF judge changing the scores of S/B and S/K in between RD and FD, etc

Is it because its a "immediately following Olympic year" or are the tango rhythm dance's normally this uniformly uninspiring? Gabrielle has the right emotion, but her step sequence skating seems a bit labored (and I don't personally ascribe to the Gabrielle can't skate school, I think she's quite lovely in the free dance). Even MadHubs who should be attacking a tango like none other seems totally over the rhythm dance.

I thought all the fake and inappropriate rhythm music selections last year (looking at you V/M) would be the short-term nadir of rhythm dance, but nope... keeps getting worse.

Aren't the key points involving more steps of the pattern in the Tango compared to other rhythms?

I guess it can contribute to make the whole pattern more labored.

The (few) teams who are getting the high levels in the Tango patterns often get lower GOEs than teams with level 2. Some suggested that these who are paying attention to get the right steps, edges, turns result in patterns being less fluid.

It is said that Meds changed her SP?????

yes, she is switching to Tosca with a choreography by Misha Ge

Chock/Bates are scheduled to debut at Merton Cup in Poland on January 8-12th

*Mentor

Is Med trying to be Ashley Wagner 2.0? At least she can use the program next season if she doesn't make the Euro or world team.

Kevin Reynolds has retired... not too surprising given how terrible his results have been.

He should have retired at the end of last season after the decent 4 Continents instead of going on just to get a crappy GP season. What was he aiming? A record call of URs?

We can always trust on Oliva Smart

"well today was extremely close, and regardless of our placement, we believe we won today, for ourselves and for the crowd. We hope you enjoyed the performance, and we can’t say thank you enough for everybody’s support! "

[quote]Kevin Reynolds has retired... not too surprising given how terrible his results have been.

So Reynolds isn't competing at Nationals next month after all?

During the interviews for the GP he said he wanted to complete this season.

Reynolds was 11th of 12 at both Skate America and NHK. Guess he changed his mind. So who's favored for Canada? Nam? Sadovsky? Can Gogo compete? (I know he's too young for Worlds)

[quote]Why did Hurtado and Diaz split anyway? Is it true that they used to be a couple, then broke up and Diaz started dating Hubbell and she was walking around naked in Hurtado and Diaz’s shared apartment, and then Sara said “sorry, it’s not working” and walked away in the middle of some competition, right after the SD?

Scandalous ! What a slut that Hubell girl turned out to be.

R152, I would say that Keegan Messing has a lock on the Canadian Title.

Oh yes! How could I forget him?

Madison H is a bitch. Even Madison C can say it

Sinistina/Katslapov beat Stepanova/Bukin by 2 points in RD at Nationals

Japan Nationals (全日本フィギュアスケート選手権2018):

Twitter and Instagram: @online_on_ice

Live K&C: youtube. com/watch?v=a7IxAM2v0xw&feature=youtu.be

Ceremony/drawings/interviews: youtube .com/channel/UCayz9_-aTstZRoeeZxiPf6g/

29 Ladies/Men, 2 Pairs, 3 Ice Dance:

[italic]Dec 21[/italic] 15:30:00 Ice Dance RD [bold]16:25:00 Ladies SP[/bold] (18 Hongo 19 Mihara 20 Sakamoto 22 Yamashita 25 Higuchi 26 Honda 27 Kihira 28 Shiraiwa 29 Miyahara)

[italic]Dec 22[/italic] 15:30:00 Pairs SP [bold]16:25:00 Men SP[/bold] (18 Uno 19 Sato 20 Tanaka 21 Nakamura 22 Takahashi 23 Honda 24 Tomono 26 Yamamoto)

[italic]Dec 23[/italic] 15:45:00 Ice Dance FD [bold]17:04:00 Ladies FS[/bold]

[italic]Dec 24[/italic] 16:00:00 Pairs FS [bold]17:04:00 Men FS[/bold]

All singles broadcast live, 16:30/19:00-19:00 on BS&CS Fuji TV One, 19:00-21:00/21:30 on Fuji. Dec 25: 0:25-1:25AM Exhibition Highlights 2:25AM-3:25AM Pairs and Ice Dance on Fuji. Dec 29: 12:00-1:55PM Full Exhibition on BS Fuji. If you watch the live broadcast on your TV in Japan, you can enter to win 2kg bag of Yukiwakamaru rice, 600g of shabu shabu pork, 1kg of snow crab legs, or 10,000 yen QUO card.

English Results Page (probably not updated in real time): www. jsfresults. com/non_responsive_toppage.htm?figure_top.htm%2CNational/2018-2019/fs_e/nationals/index.htm

Japanese Results Page:

Russian Nationals today

Men SP

1) Kovtun 95.14

2) Kolyada 94.70

3) Milukov 90.05

4) Samarin 83.24

5) Lazukin 81.43

8) Aliev 71.74

PAIRS SP

1) Tarasova/Morozov 80.06

2) Zabjiako/Enbert 78.53

3) Boikova/Kozlovskii 74.98

4) Mishina/Galliamov 72.85

5) Pavliuchenko/Kohodykin 71.56

6) Efimova/Korovin 70.61

ICE DANCE RD

1) Sinistina/Katsalapov 84.01

2) Stepanova/Bukin 81.95

3) Zagorski/Guerreiro 73.37

4)Evdokimova/Bazin69.86

5) Popova/Mogzov 69.62

6) Skoptcova/Aleshin 69.00

7) Shpilevaya/Smirnov 68.00

Are the Russian judges trying to push S&K, R157?

1 judge (Maria Abasova) put the S/B ahead in PCS. A couple of others tied. Rest went for S/K

Technical base value was 1 point higher for S/K. TES Panel was Julia Andreeva (Controller) and Galit Chait (Israel) and Ekaterina Rubleva as Specialists. Rubleva is not even an international specialist but they didn't have many choices. All Russian ISU Technical Specialists (Petr Durnev, Svetland Lapyna, Denis Samokhin and Ivan Volobuev) are connected to some Russian skaters

Actually, I re-checked. 6 judges for S/K in PCS and 3 for S/B (Abasova, Igor Dolgushin, Evgeni Bezmenov).

So what do we think of Paul Poirier's bulge?

Cut or uncut?

Geeze, happened to flip past Canada Stars on Ice... Moir has packed on some poundage, which is especially unflattering in the Moulin Rouge black illusion material shirt, but still visible in the other shirts.

So Scott Moir is getting fat, R164?

It's possible he's gained weight -- skaters often gain weight when they stop competing regularly.

I didn't see the competition. What did Zagorki/Guerreiro do to have such a collapse?

Sinistina/Katslapov have won.

Evdokimova/Bazin got the third place

There was at least one twizzle sequence that went wrong for Zawhorski/Guerreiro and he couldn't get her up for the final lift.

r165, judge for yourself.... All his weight is going to Scott's midriff and that outfit is NOT forgiving.

R158 Thank you for providing this info. It's been helpful.

Evgenia Medvedeva is the spokeswoman for a miraculous and delicious beverage that will fix Scott right up - maybe she can give him some samples at the next ice show they're in together.

Sometimes we forget how incredibly lean skaters are when they are competing.

When they stop regular competition, some (but not all) gain weight.

Yeah but maybe at that point it's time to wear flowy shirts instead of skin tight transparent leotards.

Ooh, black illusion and sequins is not a good look when you've gained a few. Scott has a naturally short, somewhat stocky, build--he's going to need to be careful with his costuming.

Virtue/Moir--so skilled, so innately trashy.

Moir is dating his first skating partner...someone team them up and watch the ubers heads explode

Moir looks like he would be a mean fuck in bed.

Moooiiiiiir just makes this couple even more greasy and disgusting. But, you have to say, he sets Virtue out for being not that disgusting now!

Moir needs to spread his sweet ass so I can fuck him. Love breaking in a new bottom. Mmmmm

Men SP in Japan

1 Shoma Uno 102.06

2 Daisuke Takahashi 88.52 * No International competition to get minimum TES so far for 4CCs and Worlds

3 Koshiro Shimada 80.46 * No International competition to get minimum TES so far

4 Keiji Tanaka 79.32

5 Shu Nakamura 77.11 * No International competition to get minimum TES so far

6 Yuma Kagiyama 74.51 * No International competition to get minimum TES so far

7 Kazuki Tomono 73.09

8 Yuto Kishina 72.96 * No International competition to get minimum TES so far

9 Taichiro Yamakuma 72.73 * No International competition to get minimum TES so far

10 Sota Yamamoto 71.95

11 Tatsuya Tsuboi 69.95 * No International competition to get minimum TES so far

12 Ryuju Hino 69.63

Russian Nats - Pairs

1) Tarasova/Morozov 236.80

2) Zabjako/Enbert 230.49

3) Boikova/Kozlovskii 220.40

Shcherbakova just scored 89 on the TES to take first with four more to skate. Even with 8s in the PCS, she has 155 points in the Free Skate.

Trusova tops 90 on TES but loses to Shcherbakova by 0.07 points overall. All three medallists are ineligible for Worlds due to age. Zagitova 5th, Medvedeva 7th.

Yu/Grandpa Zhang new Short

Choreo by Richaud

Zags was fifth? Damn. They really do have a short life over there. Saw Medved's short--disaster. Tuk got a bye to Euros.

All in all, this is looking good for Japan--their wunderkind is old enough, though her SP didn't go well.

So does Hanyu not skate most competitions as a means of preserving his body? He clearly trains all the time, but is this his way of extending his shelf life with chronic injuries?

R183, it's very unusual for a two-time Olympic Gold Medalist to keep skating competitively, so it makes sense that it's taking a toll and that Hanyu will have to limit himself to a certain number of events per year.

At Rostelecom in November, Hanyu had another bad injury to the same ankle that nearly took him out of the Olympics.

Here's Hanyu at the medal ceremony last month, on crutches.

Poor thing. :(

He's pushing himself too hard.

Don’t we already have a million Hanyu threads? Do his ubers really need to drag him into any FS discussion?

I hope this is the start of the end of the Zagmed. Can't stand their bent knees and awful programs.

I think it's fine to discuss Hanyu in terms of competition--the issue is when not particularly interesting gossip takes over. Whether he skates or not makes a big difference for Uno and Chen. I enjoy Chen's skating, but Hanyu at his best beats Nathan at his best--though we've never really seen that competition, since Nathan imploded so badly on his short at the Olympics. I'd like to see a men's competition like some of the GP Ladies this year--where every skater brought their A game. I'm guessing it would go Hanyu, Chen, Uno, but not necessarily.

Ladies are in flux again, but I think that's going to be how it is because of the size/strength advantage girls on the edge of puberty have when it comes to jumping. It's become gymnastics all over again. Where finesse and skating skills are needed more than jumps you see older skaters. Ladies peak when ice dancers are still in juniors.

And when will Eteri and her team hire an external choreographer? I'm so sick of the paint-by-numbers programs of the Eteribots.

But Eteri just gave an interview which discussed how deep and meaningful all that pantomiming and backloading is.

All I can say is that I'm rooting for Japan at Ladies Worlds.

I want Daisuke in me quite deeply

Russia selection for Europeans

Ladies: S. Konstantinova, A. Zagitova, S. Samodurova

subs: L. Tuktamysheva, E. Medvedeva

Men: M. Kovtun, M. Kolyada, A. Samarin

subs: A. Lazukin, D. Aliev, S. Voronov

Pairs: Tarasova/Morozov, Zabiiako/Enbert, Boikova/Kozlovskii

Subs: Pavliuchenko/Khodykin, Mishina/Galliamov

Dance: Sinitsina/Katsalapov, Stepanova/Bukin, Evdokimova/Bazin

Subs: Popova/Mozgov, Skoptceva/Aleshin, Zagorski/Guerreiro

Universiade

Universiade

Ladies: S. Konstantinova, L. Tuktamysheva

subs: E. Medvedeva, M. Sotskova

Men: M. Kovtun, A. Samarin, A. Lazukin

subs: D. Aliev, A. Petrov, A. Shulepov

Pairs: Poluianova/Sopot, Koshevaia/Bushlanov, Ozerova/Bobrov

Subs: None

Dance: Evdokimova/Bazin, Popova/Mozgov, Skoptceva/Aleshin

Subs: Shpilevaya/Smirnov

So will Daisuke qualify for Worlds?

France selection for Europeans

Meité

Lecavelier

(no alternates)

Aymoz

Siao Fa

(no alternates)

James/Cipres

Hamon/Stekalin * if their minimum TES is validated by ISU which is unlikely given that competition (Volvo Cup) didn't meet the conditions required (skaters from at least 2 countries and there were only French pairs)

(no alternates)

Papadakis/Cizeron

Lauriault/Legac

Galyavieva/Thauron

(alternate: Wagret/Souquet)

Japan National Championships Ladies results

1 Kaori Sakamoto 228.01

2 Rika Kihira 223.76

3 Satoko Miyahara 223.34

4 Mai Mihara 220.80

5 Wakaba Higuchi 197.63

6 Mako Yamashita 197.14

So happy for Kaori and glad that the reign of the aloof Miyahara with her tiny jumps is over.

I like Satoko, tiny jumps and all, but she was wearing some serious bitch face when the results came in for Kaori. It was one thing to be undone by Kihira and her triple axels, but to lose Kaori, who tends to be seen as an also-ran, wasn't her plan at all.

Germany team for Euros: Fentz, Schott, Weinzierl, Hase/Seegert (Pairs), Hocke/Blommsert (Pairs), Koch/Nuchtern (Ice Dance)

All I want for Christmas is Paul Poirier's crack:

If eteri actually taught her girls to jump with their legs and actually make them develop their leg muscles, maybe her skaters will still be around when they turn 17? Zag has thighs now, she looks like she will be sent to retirement home. These stick leg girls trusova, scher, 16 year old med have legs that looked so frail their legs look like they will snap when they land on it. And whatis up with these girls looking like they are flinging their bodies in the skating rink? Tukt has muscular legs, looks like she just jumps. Even kihira has muscular legs for a 16 year old skinny asian girl.

R174- V/M fans have already found out about Moir dating someone not named Tessa and they're all jumping ship haha. They're deleting their blogs and they've decided that V/M have been shipbaiting. Lots of angry fans. Good thing that V/M already did their book promo because they won't be selling much after this. I wonder if Nivea is going to drop Virtue.

Someone posted a pic of Moir chugging down beer with his new gf and a bunch of strangers in Tampa. That weight gain will probably gain some more.

Who gives a fuck about Moir fangurls ?

Call me when they spot him with his legs on the air and a hot papi pounding his delicious ass. Mmmmmm Moir's ass mmmmmmmm

Anyway, a new TSL yay!!

[quote]V/M fans have already found out about Moir dating someone not named Tessa and they're all jumping ship haha. They're deleting their blogs and they've decided that V/M have been shipbaiting. Lots of angry fans.

But V/M were always truthful about the fact that they weren't a real-life couple, so why are their fans angry?

[quote]But V/M were always truthful about the fact that they weren't a real-life couple, so why are their fans angry?

Because they're all a bunch of fat, Canadian fraus who have nothing better to do than live vicariously through this fake, Disney, soulmate romance spoon fed to them by V/M, their team and the media. These hefers don't like it when you pull the curtain back.

R206- I think it's because V/M looked like they were contradicting their words - Moir apparently told a group of fans that he couldn't hang around for pictures because he had to get home to Tessa and then Tessa goes and posts a pic of her new lingerie. They seemed to do those kind of things all the time. So they were obviously stringing along the fans to sell tickets to their tour and their new book and now the fans are pissed.

It's the fans' own fault though, because plenty of older fans who had watched V/M during Vancouver and Sochi told those newer fans that this was V/M's M.O. A couple of wiser fans even told the newbies that Moir would take his new gf on his "coming out beach vacation" and they rightly predicted he'd take her to the Dominican Republic.

One more reason to like Davis/White better--they won on skill not on some faux romance.

Hubbell and Donohue, on the other hand, had a recent interview where they made it pretty clear that dating interfered with their skating because the skating would reflect whatever was going on off the ice, so they (aka Madison) decided to skate as if they were just friends.

[quote]I think it's because V/M looked like they were contradicting their words

R208, I'm not a big fan of V/M, but to be fair to them, they have always said many times in interviews that they are not a real life couple. So they told the truth, even if some of the fangirls didn't want to hear it.

R209, actually, I think Charlie White admitted a few years ago that it worked to D&W's advantage when some of their fans would think they were a couple off-ice, even though they admitted they weren't.

Japanese selection

4 CONTINENTS

Shoma Uno, Keiji Tanaka, Kazuki Tomono

Kaori Sakamoto, Rika Kihira, Mai Mihara

Suzaki/Kihara

Komatsubara/Koleto

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

Shoma Uno, Keiji Tanaka, Yuzuru Hanyu

Kaori Sakamoto, Rika Kihira, Satoko Miyahara

Suzaki/Kihara

Komatsubara/Koleto

Wait so they skipped Daisuke entirely even though he could do some rinky dink competition later to get the TES minimum?

Daisuke was offered Worlds and declined. (from other thread)

Thanks R213. Do you have a link for the other thread?

[quote] some rinky dink competition

are you talking about us??

Here it is, R214 (I hope I'm linking it right)

Why didn't Daisuke want to go to Worlds?

R217, I'm curious too.

What was the point of returning to competition if he was going to turn down Worlds?

Heh, there's some V/M haters here on the level of spurned shippers. I'm shallower than that... I thought Moir was hot when he was all lean and cute but... I can't tolerate fat in leotards.

I doubt he's THAT fat, R219.

He's probably not in the same shape he was at the Olympics, but I doubt he's turning into Humpty Dumpty.

R219 don’t know what you mean unless you show Moir pics. You could be some anorexic 70 lb er who can’t tell the differ cue between normal and gaunt.

Heh, that's based on the youtube clip above. I mean, let's be real, he's still in better shape than I am. But I'm not going around in illusion fabric.

R218 Dai never intended to compete internationally, he doesn’t even have the TES to even qualify for worlds. He didn’t even meet minimal TES at JNats. He’s insecure and never got over just disappearing in 2014 after Sochi. I don’t know what he expected but I’m sure it wasn’t a failed announcer and fade away skater after Yuzu came onto the scene. He has a decent japan fan base and is playing on that for what I’m not sure, but it’s not to ruin his body in international comps. LOL. Maybe more press, more ice show, more commercials? Whatever it is, I hope he figures it out before he steals any more attention away from younger skaters. Shoma won by like 50 points, but Dai and press act like he was the winner.

R223 = Yuzuru Hanyu

Dai answering the question - why not go to Worlds? I'm not sure what to think about it. "...junior skaters now will (must) become better skaters than Hanyu-kun and Shoma and wanting those junior skaters to become better skaters...?"

I think something is lost in translation. If any of the junior skaters become better than the two-time Olympic gold medalist - I guess he's expecting them all to become three-time gold medalists? That's a pretty big ask.

He is giving the spot to Tanaka who is already 24, and won't become better at this point

R225 Why is that translator retweeting the account of the crazy Takahashi fan on FSU?

I'm confused. I thought the translater was translating the linked yahoo.jp article (that's also linked at the bottom of the tweet linked to at R225). What am I missing?

r228 Sorry, I'm referring to the Road to Sochi account the translator's been retweeting. I'm just surprised they'd associate with that person.

Thanks R229. I've been following Iron Klaus and thought they were a Hanyu fan. Oh well, I really don't understand the social media situation in reference to Japanese - well really East Asian skaters. Think I'll take Orser's advice and try to ignore it. A lot of passionate people, I will say that.

R230 Maybe the translator isn’t aware of what the owner of that account has been posting. About the interview and translation, the question wasn’t particularly leading or controversial. The reporter was allowing Takahashi an opportunity to explain himself (and look good). Right before they asked that question, he said if he’d returned to competition two years earlier, he might have gone to worlds, and if he continues next year, he might try to go but he’s not sure. Then the reporter asked, “But was it really necessary to step down for the younger skaters for this worlds…?”

Takahashi has been talking about wanting to see someone surpass Hanyu for years, even during his retirement press conference four years ago. He’s probably trying to say that he wants to see the younger generation evolve to become even better skaters, but his wording wasn’t great and mentioning Hanyu and Uno probably wasn't a good idea.

R223 R226 R231 “foot in mouth”. Maybe he should stop while he’s ahead,

Maybe what Takahashi is saying is that the junior skaters of today are advancing at a technical level in terms of quads that will one day overtake what Hanyu and the top skaters of today are doing.

r233 That'd be odd because that's certainly not what junior skaters are doing (advancing at technical level).

Don't male skaters today have to start doing the quad at younger ages than in previous eras, R234?

If Daisuke did accept the Worlds assignment, then the Dai haters here would call him selfish and delusional. He can never win with you miserable people.

Congratulations to Dai! Take all the attention you want since the rest of the Japanese men (who he outscored) are mediocre at best!

r235 They seem to, there are a few with a 4Lz, but their consistency is laughable even compared to the non-existent consistency of seniors, they seem to have those quads more in theory than in reality, and their 3A is literally their downfall. The last season I remember people being actually excited about Men's juniors was 16/17 with Zhou, Aliev, Samarin and Cha. Right now the junior field seems to be in a slump, as evidenced by JWC 18 and the latest GPF. The winner of 2018 would have been 7th in 2017 and the current season's only interesting skater was Canada's wunderkind Gogolev who is a male Trusova/Shcherbakova (with similar problems).

It sounds like Dai’s giving up something for younger skaters- which sounds like a good senior, BUT Dai cannot just go to Worlds. He has to attend a low level comp for minimal TES, which isn’t a guarantee since he never met that TES even at JNats. I give props to Dai for coming back to competitive mode and he deserve the JNats cheers.

However, Keiji( although not perfect performances) also worked his butt of this year, placed in JNats, and met requirements for worlds. Keiji earned his spot and not fair to him to say he was given a chance because Dai turned it down. This is actually taking credit away from younger skaters.

IIRC out of his 3 competitions in Japan this season, he reached the 64 points in TES in one occasion (the sectionals). In that occasion he was over 70.

Japanese Nationals aren't usually too much over-scored. So he can get that score. But yes, it is not automatic.

For 4 Continents it would have been too tight (it is either Mentor or Bucharest which are held in the second week of January). But for World there is more time to prepare the competition accurately or try more than one event. You can find one of these low level competitions in Eastern Europe in which judging is quite "creative"

Dai could have gone to worlds and placed a respectable top 20

Finishing that low would be embarrassing for a former World Champion, R240.

Takahashi was 12th in TES (63.60) in the FS on home turf (Osaka is his base). 14-year old Shun Sato was 2nd in TES with 80.70. He landed a 4T in the short and a 4T2T in the long both with positive GOE.

No one performed to the best of their ability, but Takahashi had a big PCS advantage over the other men. He received 88.50 (89.92 for Uno) in the FS, almost 25 points higher than his TES, and that put him in 4th for the long. (For SP, 45.14 in PCS, only 0.11 less than Uno.) Overall, he only beat Tanaka by 3.17 points despite that advantage and Tanaka had two bad programs with falls. Takahashi acknowledged he wouldn’t be physically ready in time for this worlds anyway, but he'll still be competing next year.

[quote]The winner of 2018 would have been 7th in 2017

R237 Did you account for the rules/scoring change?

r242 JWC 18 were before the new rules implementation, that's why I could make a direct comparison annd didn't try to make one with the current season. The scores from the latest JGP were actually similar to the previous season, so maybe those quads, mess as they are, are making up for the lowered BV.

JWC was quite underwhelming

Rizzo was 6th in the SP and 6th in FS and ended up on the podium because those who messed the SP weren't the ones who messed up the FS

If Dai doesn’t retire will be be sent to gp series? Or home events again only or just low level b international comps? Maybe he needs international pressure to improve his skating cause he can’t skate like that JNats free. Age wise Voronov did decent this year and Brezina ( though 4 y younger) had a decent show too. Dai needs to get his mental game together if he does international comps...

r245 To be fair, Dai had a 4 year break. Voronov didn't have a break. Maybe Dai took a look at the international circuit and said, "nope, I won't be able to compete with that" and decided to stay in Japan. That would actually be a reasonable approach to his career, unlike Gracie Gold's.

R246 to clarify- I meant these other guys with similar age can do it so why not Dai if he wants to put in the time and effort. Also if he doesn’t retire and just competes in Japan isn’t that like doing ice shows? For a world champion wouldn’t ice shows be better then just competing against what he considers current not up to par youngsters?

Before Dai fans get their panties bunched up and call me a Hanyu fan- I’m actually hoping someone from Japan or more familiar can answer that for me because it is out of true curiosity.

r247 Not Japanese so I can't answer that but from the other thread I learned that Dai did very few shows post-retirement, which seems odd given his popularity. Asada, Arakawa, Oda, Akiko Suzuki, Miki Ando have been doing lots of shows, even Machida did some despite switching to academics, but not Dai. He was apparently trying for a different career. There was some speculation that competing now could drum up interest in his skating and it'd allow him to get into the show skating.

Have any nudes of Scott Moir ever leaked ?? Fuck! I would love to see his hard cock.

R249, I don't think Scott Moir has even done a sexy photo shoot, let alone let nude pics leak.

There's a brief shirtless gif of him here:

Moir has big dick swag

Yeah, Moir is very arrogant.

Perhaps he does have a big dick.

R252...With that nose, you would hope so...

Geez, THAT'S the bod that looks good in illusion fabric! /shallow

R254, which bod?

The old one of Moir at R250?

[R248] Whoever said this in the other thread was misinformed then. Dai, Mao, Nobu and Akiko all did more or less the same amount of shows between 2014 and 2018. Dai's show appearances added up to round about 150 individual performances in that time frame, including several performances in 5 shows abroad (Denis Ten & Friends 2014, Art on Ice 2015 & 17, Lambiel's Ice Legends 2016 and Yamaguchi's Golden Moment 2017). Nationally he headlined Hyoen, Burke's floor dance show twice and his own annual Christmas on Ice in addition to regularly appearing in the usual fare like Friends on Ice, The Ice etc. Machida had by far the least amount of appearances out of the skaters you listed. He did nothing besides Prince Ice World and Carnival on Ice.

r256 Ah, Thanks. I was either misinformed or got facts mixed up. In this case, it doesn't seem as if Dai has any difficulty skating in shows. Maybe he really just wanted to finish his career on his own terms.

R250, yes. Those abs are sexy. As opposed to the 2018 Stars on Ice youtube vid I posted earlier.

More selections for Europeans

GERMANY

Paul Fentz

Nicole Schott, Natalie Weinzierl

Hase/Seegert, Hocke/Blommaert

Koch/Nuchtern

HUNGARY

Iveth Toth

Borovoj Alekszander Borovoj

Yanovskaya/Lukacs

UKRAINE

Men: Ivan Shmuratko

(is Paniot not bothering anymore?)

Women: Anastasia Gozhva

Sports dances: Daria Popova - Vladimir Belikov

(Nikitin got injured during RD at Nationals. And anyway N/N looked out of shape all season)

Zabjako/Enbert out of Euros. He is injured.

Pavliuchenko/Khodykin are their replacement

Wait JWC happened already? What were the podiums?

The 2019 World Junior Figure Skating Championships will be held in Zagreb, Croatia from March 4-10, 2019.

Virtue & Moir in Prime Minister Trudeau's office:

Tessa-why’s he looking at me like a piece of meat?

Sui/Han SP at Chinese Nationals

Sui/Han 78.27

Peng/Jin 75.07

Yu/Zhang 62.93

Wang/Wang 62.79

PCS S/H 37.66 P/Y 34.81 Y/Z 31.03

Has Zhang fell from grace in Chinese Fed to get low PCS compared to P/J?

Parsons girl is so cheap. She didn't even bother with the Christmas wrapping paper and used a newspaper

Dunno, that seem's pretty environmentally conscious to me.

Yeah, newspapers, recycling gift wrap and reusable gift bags are all a thing among the environmentally minded these days.

Paul Poirier:

will Paul Poirier recycle newspapers for Christmas? Or does he not care about enviornment?

happy new year bitches

Guillaume is getting a little sassy.

Where are all the pics with Guillaume and his boyfriend? His instagram only has photos with Gabi.

R273, there was a photo of Guillaume and his boyfriend from Facebook that was posted above -- either earlier in this thread, or in the last part.

After a couple of good seasons, the average level of Pairs field have collapsed again

Only 13 entries at Europeans....some of them not particularly worthy...

ZIEGLER Miriam / KIEFER Severin

PETRANOVIC Lana / SOUZA-KORDEIRU Antonio

JAMES Vanessa / CIPRES Morgan

HASE Minerva Fabienne / SEEGERT Nolan

HOCKE Annika / BLOMMAERT Ruben

JONES Zoe / BOYADJI Christopher

KOPS Hailey / TSOGLIN Artem

DELLA MONICA Nicole / GUARISE Matteo

GHILARDI Rebecca / AMBROSINI Filippo

BOIKOVA Aleksandra / KOZLOVSKII Dmitrii

TARASOVA Evgenia / MOROZOV Vladimir t PAVLIUCHENKO Daria / KHODYKIN Denis

BARQUERO Laura / MAESTU Aritz

Check Guillaume's Instagram for photos of him and his ami.

this is the supposed boyfriend

I find pairs to be so boring. The same ol watered-down elements (compared to singles), the same lifts/spins/death spirals. Most pairs programs I only watch until the 4 jump elements are done then I skip to the scores.

I assume this is Guillaume's boyfriend:

All Pairs will make the FS at Euros. Even the old British lady, the weak Israelis, the Russian-Portuguese from Croatia and the second Italians. Actually, one of them will make the top 10

5 teams will be cut after Rhythm Dance. I think it will be the following

Anna KUBLIKOVA / Yuri HULITSKI

Teodora MARKOVA / Simon DAZE

Katerina BUNINA / German FROLOV

Shira ICHILOV / Vadim DAVIDOVICH

Victoria MANNI / Carlo ROETHLISBERGER

Predictions

FRA-RUS (S/K)-RUS (S/B)-ITA will be top 4

Then a group with Fear/Gibson, Hurtado/Khaliavin, Smart/Diaz, Lauriault/Legac, Evdokimova/Bazin and Kaliszek/Spodyriev will make up the rest of top 10 in whatever order.

All these between 11 and 20 are also quite close and depend on the performance of the day and the judges selected in both segments.

The 13 Federations drawn for judging panel are Bulgaria, France, Great Britain, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine.

9 will be drawn on site for Tango and then the other 4 will judge FS along with 5 drawn from the RD's 9.

One of the selfies in the rumored boyfriend's photos has a pride frame surrounding it.

R281, that's the same guy as the photo I posted from Guillaume's Instagram at R279.

So I think it's safe to say they're together.

What's interesting though is that although Guillaume has come partway out by posting these photos of him with his boyfriend, he hasn't officially come all the way out yet.

Karen Chen withdraws from US Nationals

bye Felicia

R278 I see your point, except for James/Cipres.

And I'm pretty annoyed with the Knierims not staying with Aljona Savchenko. What an opportunity they have turned down!

Who's in 1st place after the technical at World Pros? Are the Carruthers finally gonna beat Underhill and Martini?

R285, a broader question for discussion is: why is the U.S. always so weak in Pairs?

So John Coughlin is under investigation by SafeSport

R288, don't leave us hanging! What did you hear?

R289 I don't know. It is on Safe Sport website

John Coughlin

Kansas City, MO

Figure Skating

Interim Measure - Restriction (decision date 12/17/2018)

He is the athletes' rep on ISU Athletes Commission and athletes' rep on ISU Single and Pairs technical committee. His role in the Athletes Commission is up for election at Worlds. I guess he may not to stand at this point.

Skating Lesson is already pointing out about this. I guess they will try to get some gossip about the case in the next few weeks.

Guillaume posted this new photo:

(liked by Paul Poirier)

[quote]John Coughlin

OMG, he was actually a pretty decent guy and I got a low key gay vibe from him.

I can't see nothing on Skating Lesson's twitter ?? What are they saying?

Well it's true I guess. Safe Sport says Interim Meauseres which relates with" gender-based or sexual harassment."

Ekkk...what does this mean.

Just type his name and sport and you get his status.

Guillaume posted a clip -- I think this is his boyfriend walking the dogs in Montreal today:

The Shibs are whoring around Golden Globes.

How did they get an invite?

They've been over since last year.

Say all you want about the Shibs, but they have been networking hardcore in Los Angeles for a few years now. The Asian population is bigger in the West coast, so they have several friends in the PR industry.

And yet, R297, what has it gotten them? Maybe it's gotten Alex laid a few times, but beyond that? It's now almost a year since the Olympics. They have no show. No big book deal. No real merchandising deal. No line of shit at Target.

Meanwhile, the whore we need more of is Chris Mazdzer.

R298, how dare you! We have a fantastic merchandising deal with Amazon that shows off the incredible design talents of the entire #ShibSquad family.

So according to TSL Nadeur (the hot gymnast) and Baldwin (the pair skater) were also under review. Ewww, Baldwin always gave me a creepy vibe.

Andrew Lavrik who took part to 4 Continents in 2010 (Dance) has been accused of sexual contact with a minor. He is in police custody

He coaches the Brown/Brown (Junior dance team who did JGP this fall). He used to train with Annabelle Morozov when she started Ice Dance

The Figure Skating cases on Safe Sport are

Thomas Incantalupo (Criminal disposition - involving a minor)- Permanently Ineligible

David Delgado (Sexual misconduct) - Permanently Ineligible

Eugene Heffron (Sexual misconduct and Criminal disposition - involving a minor)- Permanently Ineligible

Kordale Bavor (Allegations of Misconduct)- Interim Measure Suspestion

Richard Callaghan (Allegations of Misconduct) - Interim Measure Suspestion

John Coughlin (Allegations of Misconduct) - Interim Measure Restriction

Steve Moore (Allegations of Misconduct) - Interim Measure Restriction

R302, wasn't Richard Callaghan the coach of Todd Eldredge?

I've been reading creepy rumors about him for years.

R302 Yes, he is

He has been accused by Craig Maurizi (who claims he started when he was 15) in the late 90s. He brought it back last year to SafeSport as at the time USFSA dismissed the case

[quote]Andrew Lavrik who took part to 4 Continents in 2010 (Dance) has been accused of sexual contact with a minor. He is in police custody

OMG, I remember watching the Browns at the JGP and feeling uncomfortable in certain parts of their FD. Now I don't feel so guilty for being worried about what their couch was given them.

I do hope the Lavrik is innocent though, he is so hot

Eeek, it says Andrew Lavrik was charge with sexually assaulting a child in November:

Patch:

[quote]The endangering the welfare of a child offense was a second-degree charge. The criminal sexual contact offense was a fourth-degree charge.

Ok DL investigators, what does this mean?

R306 Fourth degree sexual contact probably means the victim was a minor, but older than 13. Likely also means he used coercion rather than force, and if he used force, it wasn't severe and didn't cause injury. The child endangerment charge is likely related to the sexual contact.

Also likely means there was inappropriate touching, but not actual penetration.

This figure skating thread has certainly taken an unusual turn.

Jesus, I am incredibly sad now. The Browns are one of the nest junior talents the USFSA has and the thought that their coach was getting handsy with one of them breaks my heart.

Christine Brennan's article on the allegations, including a statement from Coughlin.

Marissa Castelli has officially retired

Alex Naddour was cleared.

Don't automatically believe accusations. People lie.

And now for something different -

a new vid of Eric Radford playing the piano shirtless:

Gracie Gold's withdrawn from Nationals. Her coach, though, has Instagrams of her managing both a triple loop and a triple salchow in practice, so she's making progress. She's not in fighting form weight wise, so, after Rostelecom, it's really better if she doesn't compete at a high level, IMO. She should work her way up through sectionals or summer competitions.

Bradie Tennell's doing her easier triple-triple in the short and the lutz combo only in the long. Nice to see a Lady skater with some strategic sense.

Karen Chen, of course, is also out. Anyone think she might retire and go to college? She's the flakiest of the flakes and with Alysa Liu coming on the scene, I don't see her sticking around--the comparison's too direct--another tiny Chinese-American girl from the Bay Area, but this one has a triple axel.

Loena Hendrickx withdrew from European Championships

At this rate it will turn into a battle betten Lindfors and Peltonen for 4th place...

Was Loena injured?

I heard Loena had a back injury. Too bad, she had interesting music for her programs.

So who's there left to watch at Euros? Zag, to see if she's still relevant or if she already plays second fiddle to the juniors, Javi, to see what he can do on 3 weeks of training, and the Russian guys to see which one will manage to stay relatively upright this time?

I'd rather watch Loena than that stick insect Zag tbh

Eric Radford posted a clip drinking wine in Montreal with his Spanish boyfriend, another Spanish guy, and former U.S Champion Jeremy Abbott:

R321 "other Spanish guy" is an ISU judge.

The one who filmed the Belarus judge at Golden Spin

I noticed that Jeremy Abbott still doesn't seem to be officially out, although he has a lot of gay stuff on his IG.

Who's Jeremy Abbott's boyfriend?

r324 Jeremy Abbott's one true love is Jeremy Abbott.

Chock/Bates debut tomorrow at a competition in Poland.

Natalia KALISZEK / Maksym SPODYRIEV and Shiyue WANG / Xinyu LIU are the main competition

Oh great, hope Chock/Bates do something interesting. They've had such a rough go of it lately.

Anyone want to predict U.S. Nationals? Men: Chen, Zhou, Brown. Ladies: Tennell, Bell, Liu--Karen Chen's withdrawal makes it easier for the judges to put Liu on the podium Pairs: ? Knierems and? Dance: H/D, C/B,H/B--Could H/B overtake C/B?

Kayne/OShea and Cain/LeDuc as the other 2 on Pairs podium

R324, Eric Radford posted a new clip of him lifting Jeremy Abbott:

Ice Dance competition with C/B in Poland have Baranov and Samokhin as Technical Specialists with Shawn Rettstatt as Controller

Judges are USA....Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and Estonia

It will be interesting to see how Chock & Bates rank at Worlds this year.

Last year, Gilles & Poirier finished only about 1 point behind them at Worlds.

Can G&P overtake them this year?

Just watched C/B's rhythm dance--not bad--not very lively--you can tell that it's the first outing of the season, but it's not bad. Hubbell/Donohue don't have much to worry about it, but I suspect they can stay ahead of Hawayek/Baker at Nationals.

They put Kaliszek/Spodyriev only 1 point behind

but given where they were and who was on the panel, it is not surprising

Estonian judge actually did it, she ranked K/S above C/B in PCS

@chockolate02 My recovery from ankle surgery 9 months ago has honestly been longer and more challenging than I ever imagined it would be. What was supposed to be a 6-8 week recovery turned out to be more like 6-8 months. It was not the doctor’s fault. Just my optimistic expectations overshadowing reality. I wouldn’t change anything because this journey has led us to where we are now, in Montreal loving life and training alongside the best teams in the world. I want to give a special shoutout to the person who has been by my side every step of the way. Thanks for always having my back Off we go to our first competition of the season! #ChockBates #comeback

R299...LOL, what sane person would ever want to sport a shirt with "ShibSibs" emblazoned over the front? Or "Twizzle" or (ugh) "Dream"?

Even their merch is lame.

We'll know when the Shibs have given up their Hollywood fame whoring when they start commentating for ice network.

Chock/Bates Tango

R335 Ice Network no longer exists--or was that your point? lol

New photo from Guillaume:

What happened to the ice network?

R339: It melted

Guillaume's boyfriend is a lucky guy:

r341 Who is his boyfriend?

R342, check out R279 & R281.

Like C/B's FD--some really interesting lifts. I think they'll keep their edge over G/P if they perform clean.

C&B are okay, but I think they may have peaked a few years ago. They will never catch H&D now.

And I think G&P have a more interesting style than C&B.

Oh yeah, I don't see C/B getting silver at Worlds ever again.

Will they put C/B behind Guignard/Fabbri now?

I agree that it's hard to imagine C/B truly in the Gold Medal hunt like they were a few years ago...but a Bronze isn't out of the question. This won't be the year, but it's a start. They seemed happy and he seemed more secure. They get along well with both P/C and H/D so no drama there. And they have committed to skating through the next quad. Even if it just gets them an Olympic Team medal...good for them. They got totally shafted not being selected in Korea.

Are they better than Hawayek/Baker, the Parsons and McNamara/Carpenter? To me, the answer is yes. Are they better than Weaver/Poje or Gilles/Poirier? That becomes a matter of taste. I do think these programs could be strong enough to get US Silver and on the Four Continents podium. If they can do that...they've stopped the bleeding and can work next year on taking down G/F and getting in the Top 5.

Why hasn't Madison C. find a new partner? She needs to find some sexy Latin-looking guy to complement her. I think they and Smart/Diaz should do a switch.

Because, R349, Chock is the weakest link in CB partnership. Bringing the pizzaz is not all it takes to make a podium at Worlds. And Diaz would definitely be a downgrade compared to Bates.

R349 because she is fucking Bates and so she has to keep him now

Chock/Bates have the most non-existent chemistry on ice for a couple that is dating.

I agree that Chock/Bates have no chemistry. They've always been kind of boring -- before and after they became a real-life couple.

But I would say that Chock has usually been considered the stronger partner. Bates is usually the one who makes the mistakes.

Bates may be making mistakes, bit Chock doesn’t seem to be able to bend those knees or use those edges even if her life depended on that.

ISU Athlete Commission elections

Single and Pairs: Eric Redford vs Misha Ge. Election to take place at Worlds

Ice Dance: Yuri Hulitski from Belarus is the only candidate. Elected unopposed

3 clips of cute French Canadian skater Nic Nadeau working out:

Bates is the stronger skater; Chock knows how to perform and be on. But compare her to a power skater like Madison Hubbell and you can see the difference.

[quote]Bates is the stronger skater

I've always got the impression that Bates was considered the weaker partner.

And he has tended to be the one who has had major twizzle problems.

Didn't they fall from 4th to 8th at 2017 Worlds because Bates messed up the twizzles in the FD?

Count of Europeans Ice Dance entries by coaching base

Gadbois 6 (from 5 countries)

Fusar Poli 5 (from 3 countries)

Zhulin 3 (from 3 countries)

Svinin/ Zhuk 2 (from 2 countries)

Another new Guillaume modelling photo:

How the hell can Marie-France manage all those dance teams? How many does she have in total now? 10?

R361, well, Marie-France isn't doing it alone. She has her husband Patrice Lauzon to help her, as well as the coach from France that works with them.

(I forget his name right now, but he's young & kind of cute.)

It's Romain Haguenauer cunt R362! And i have a hot husband to show for it.

Nicolas Nadeau is so fucking hot. I would love to bury my fave on that ass.

Chock and Bates have a fabulous FD. It's to bad they are barely coming back. This FD has the potential to medal at world. It's definitely better than what the others are putting.

There's nothing sexy about Guiilaume C. He's like a neutered Ken doll.

The Russian skaters, in the other hand...

[quote]There's nothing sexy about Guiilaume C. He's like a neutered Ken doll.

It's so weird. In real life, I agree. I don't find him sexy at all off the ice. Too over-plucked for my tastes.

But when he's on the the ice, he transforms.

The sexiness he exuded in their 2015 World winning FD was hot, hot, hot. He totally channeled that brooding, French lover boy with tousled hair look.

R361

The 6 at Euros

The US top 3

Soucisse/Firus

The ex Danes

The Junior Canadian Champions

The Japanese team

Wang/Liu and

That is already 14!

[quote]Nicolas Nadeau is so fucking hot. I would love to bury my fave on that ass.

R364, yeah, Nicolas Nadeau is hot. And he does have a nice ass. I think he's straight, but I liked his Elvis Presley program.

Here's a video clip of his body in action:

The 4 Continents entries are out (with Can and USA as TDB)

Confirmed no Yu/Zhang in Pairs.

Everything else as expected.

22 Ladies. So they will all make the FS

26 men. So some will be cut

11 Pairs. North Koreans are making the trip to California.

12 Dance

Tarasova/Morozov are back to last season's SP

r369 Harsh for the 2 men that won't make the cut.

Denis Ten's murderers sentenced to 18 years in prison in Kazakhstan

Coughlin now supended

R372 yikes how randomly senseless.

RD at Canadian Nationals

Weaver/Poje 85.19

Gilles/Poirier 83.08

Fournier/Sorensen 79.41

Soucisse/Firus 73.36

Conrad Orzel is cute.

[quote]Coughlin now supended

Oh uh...

what exactly is he being accused of ??

So Nationals in a week...predictions?

R375, it looks like a close race between Weaver/Poje & Gilles/Poirier.

And good marks for Fournier/Sorensen.

Soucisse/Firus must be disappointed that the Danish/Canadian duo is overshadowing them.

Nationals--Chen, Zhou, Brown

Tennell, Bell, Liu--though Liu will be bumped up if Bell gets nerves and flakes

Pairs--Kniermens and some other people. I'm not good on pairs

Dance--H/D, C/B, H/B

R377 It hasn't been released what the accusation is however, his sister posted on Facebook a little while ago that he killed himself.

R379 yes, at the beginning of the season S/F must have hoped to be neck and neck to exDanes. But they didn't use the GP/Challenger season well, their results stagnated rather than looking like an up and coming team. And next season they have Lajoie/Lagha coming up from Juniors.

R381: What?! John killed himself?

Jesus christ it's true

R384, what a shocking and unexpected end to this story.

OMG. He must have felt his life was ruined. Ooh boy.

His sister posted this on Facebook:

USFSA statement

We are stunned at the news of the death of two-time U.S. pairs champion John Coughlin. Our heartfelt and deepest sympathies are with his father Mike, sister Angela and the rest of his family. Out of respect to the family, U.S. Figure Skating will have no further comment until a later time.

That's why the accused should have due process and the right to confront their accusers.

People claiming to be victims should tell their stories under oath with penalty of perjury. Otherwise, they can accuse anyone and ruin his or her life.

Holy shit! I can't believe this.

The allegations must have been pretty serious if he committed suicide mere days after he was suspended. Serious enough to think he life was over.

Makes me think of Mark Salling.

If I was a victim I'd be retraumatized by the outpouring of sympathy for him. I can understand why someone would be reluctant to come forward.

Coughlin could have killed himself because the allegations were true, or he could have killed himself because he felt his life was over because of false allegations. To speculate either way at this point is very premature.

I agree completely R393. Whatever the full story is, it's tragic all around.

Canadians Nats Ladies

1) Alaine Chartrand

2) Aurora Cotop

3) Véronik Mallet

Daleman 5th

Agree with R393, but also that it's important to have due process.

Daleman is fifth? Man, she's hitting Gracie Gold levels of implosion.

What allegations?

Sorry but I only follow figure skating during the competitions and don’t know the day to day stuff as some of you guys here do.

The first two minutes of Gabby's program were ok, then she completely ran out of energy and messed up everything else. She's in a better position than Gracie Gold losing all her triples jumps, she just needs to do some conditioning like back to back runthroughs of her long program.

R393

True, but speculation is all we have.

I really want to believe he was innocent of all charges; he seemed like such a sweet guy. But keeping it real, people don't usually kill themselves in situations like these if they are innocent. I seriously doubt he would've taken his life if he felt due process would exonerate him in the end.

I sincerely hope we learn more details to, either bring justice for the alleged victims, or clear John's name.

Unless he was already battling depression, and had then been dealt false allegations that tore him away from a sport he loved...

I will say he always seemed very beloved by his fellow skaters and came off as a good guy. Was that the truth, or was he really good at hiding a dark side? We don't know. I do hope now the investigation doesn't just get pushed aside. For all involved, there needs to be resolution.

His longtime coach posted this on facebook (for whatever it is worth):

Dalilah Medel Farfan Sappenfield is feeling heartbroken with John Coughlin. 8 hrs · Yesterday I received the most numbing, devastating,and heartbreaking call!!!!!!!!! It has taken me all night to grasp and accept. My heart aches incredibly to know John took his life yesterday. His family, the skating community, and I lost a very special man who lived his life with integrity and kindness. We definitely lost one of the good guys. John was my student, like one of my own children, was an amazing ambassador for our sport, a selfless man, and a great role model. He was driven to help our sport grow, especially in pairs. The John I knew was a big loving teddy bear with an infectious laugh. It was so very difficult for him and all those who loved him to see his name and reputation being dragged through the mud these past few weeks, without any due process. We spoke everyday just numb and shocked about how things were being misconstrued on social media. It was so very sad and tragic for me to see his life turned upside down in a matter of weeks, to the point where he felt alone, lost, and desperate that he no longer had it in him to fight. I hope that this serves as an example to everyone reading social media that not everything is as what it seems and that EVERYONE deserves due process before passing judgement. I’ve known John for 20 plus years. John would never put a harmful hand on anyone, that is just simply not in his DNA.

To those who have been “reporting” on social media. I’m sure you will receive a lot of likes for what I’m about to say. SHAME ON YOU for your insensitive and ignorant postings without knowing all the facts! You speak of transparency, well here’s one for you. As Americans, it’s our civil right to be innocent until proven guilty! John NEVER got to exercise that right before losing everything, including his life.

John, you will forever be in my heart. I’m so very sorry that you felt you had nothing left in you to fight for. I wish we could have done more to help you 😢. You had so much to live for and so much to give. I hope you know how many people admired and loved you!!! Thank you for the letter you left me. I promise to you that your voice and truth will be heard. I will miss you dearly mijo!!!! May God bless your soul 🙏 “Love always” De

Have any of his fellow skaters posted anything to social media about his death yet?

Some people are so vehement in their replies about his innocence (usually based around the idea that since they knew him, and they thought he was nice, therefore he must be innocent). It feels like many people need him to be innocent to validate their rose-colored view of the world, and not to realize, soberly, that most sexual predators are good at appearing "nice."

No clue whether Coughlin was guilty or not of the charge, but he chose to end his own life rather than defending his innocence or face his guilt.

What I've seen so far:

@JohnnyGWeir John Coughlin was a person who made things fun. He was a person who was talented, had an incredible laugh & would go out of his way to cheer someone up. His kindness is something I’ll never forget and his light will be missed. My prayers are with his family & friends.

@Grant_Hochstein John Coughlin was one of the kindest, most genuine people who ever existed in the skating world. This is how he should be honored and remembered. All of my prayers to his family during this terrible time.

@PolinaEdmunds Still in disbelief of everything that was happening, and so shocked and saddened to hear about John Coughlin’s passing. What a devestating loss 💔 RIP John, you will be so missed, I hope you’re in a better place now.

SafeSport raised his disciplinary record to “Interim Suspension" on Thursday.

Rippon posted a tribute to him on IG a few hours ago. He closed the comments

Knierims were also tweeting in Coughlin's defense a few years ago

I saw posts commemorating him also by Tarah OKaine and Jessica Calalang

On the other hand Mervin Tran made a more conflicting post

* few hours ago

[quote]But keeping it real, people don't usually kill themselves in situations like these if they are innocent.

Valid point.

It does sound a bit like the Mark Salling situation.

It would be surprising for someone innocent to end his life so quickly before the investigation was even completed.

Christine Brennan's new article:

Pairs in Canada

1) Kirsten Moore-Towers / Michael Marinaro 202.75

2) Evelyn Walsh / Trennt Michaud 189.87

3) Camille Ruest / Drew Wolfe 166.84

They have 2 spots at Worlds. 3 at 4 Continents.

I want to be memorialized with emojis.

Did anyone see that annoying idiot Matthew Blackmer shaming Christine Brenan for doing her and reporting on the John case?

People like Matthew are the type of pigs that would shame a victim if he/she ever came forward.

The quote is "Innocent until proven guilty IN A COURT OF LAW'. We're not in a court of law. We're just regular assholes talking about what is going on around us. The constitution does not control our thoughts or opinions or our expressions of them.

It's disgusting how the idiots in skating circles are trying to exonerate John because he committed suicide. Disgusting.

No wonder the abundant sexual abuse in skating never sees the light of day.

Who did he sexually abuse again?

From the Brennan article:

[quote]Kansas City police confirmed Coughlin's suicide. They didn't release a full report but said they were dispatched at 4:54 p.m. Friday to the 10900 block of Washington Street in Kansas City and the deceased was Coughlin.

[quote] On the other hand Mervin Tran made a more conflicting post

[R406] That was a beautiful post by Mervin who appeared to have heard rumors about the accusations and knows who the accuser[s) are. He shares a deep empathy for the victims{s) while at the same time shares his own pain about being conflicted.

Weaver/Poje RD. Best tango of the season along with Papadakis/Cizeron and Sinitsina/Katsalapov

Better quality audio in this video

graciegold95 We all have our own truths. John Coughlin was my friend-a wonderful friend. I was 9 years old when we met, just learning to skate. Over the years I knew him, he inspired me, supported me, and made me laugh. During my darkest days, his was an encouraging voice, telling me things would be okay. Recently we teamed up, providing seminars to a new generation of skaters. I loved every minute of it. I remember John’s exuberance and passion for the sport and the people in it. John Coughlin made a positive difference in my life and many others. This is the truth I know. Rest In Peace, my friend, I will miss you.

W/P have never been big favorites of mine, but that was gorgeous. They're definitely back in contention for the Worlds podium.

Re: Coughlin--people are a mix. You can be a good person 90 percent of the time and really screw up that other 10 percent.

I expected to hate Weaver (as I usually do) but was pleasantly surprised by her elegance (that dress helps) and their chemistry. Disappointed at Andrew though for not wearing something meshy à la Guillaime. The end was a little hammy (she needs to tone it down a bit), but I prefer this more than H/D.

ahem R418

Where the hell are you people watching this???

Jackie Wong site, rockerskating dot com, usually has a link to a stream in real time. And later, he'll have videos of the skates - don't know how long he leaves them up.

For once TSL comes through. The lady, I forget her name, really explained the inner workings of Safesports.

Apparently it was a pattern of behavior. The final report should be eye opening.

Well god damn it! That Dave Lease has more lives than a cat, this is probably TSL's finest hour.

I was not aware how Safesports operates. It's definitely more serious than I thought.

Well, that TSL discussion certainly has tipped the scale of speculation more toward guilt than innocence regarding John.

Yes, we don't know the facts, but if SafeSport is reaching out to someone like "Jen" nobody from 20 years ago, it seems like this was a pattern of long-term behavior/abuse.

She also kept stressing that SafeSport didn't arbitrarily elevate his disciplinary record without a thorough investigation, which if you read between the lines, clearly means they had sufficient due cause to do so. I doubt that would've happened if it was merely an isolated incident or a manufactured complaint of a disgruntled parent/skater looking to tarnish someone's life.

Then, on top of that, you have the suicide itself, which again makes me believe these allegations warranted much more than a suspension, but would eventually lead to serious criminal charges--of which he was probably guilty of and knew he would ultimately face. I suspect Larry Nassar level of abuse maybe.

Was he charged with sexual abuse of minors?

The suicide tells me that possible criminal charges might have been inevitable. It's just sad all around, this definitely will cast a shadow around nationals coming up. it will be interested to see how NBC handles the broadcast.

No charges have been made, and there are no details released as of yet as to the nature of the allegations.

But the TSL discussion does hint at sexual abuse of some sort, and it also hints that it was not an isolated incident.

Of course, they tried hard not to give any specifics, but that was the subtext I was picking up on.

Watched the Free Dance from Canadians tonight.

The top 3 teams all skated well.

Gilles & Poirier skated another great version of their Vincent Starry Night program and beat Weaver & Poje in the FD, although W&P finished ahead by 1 point overall.

Fournier & Sorensen also skated very well. They have more of a European style in some respects than a North American one.

Soucisse & Firus dropped down to 5th after making several errors and falling on the ice near the end.

And it was great to see Paul Poirier's assets on display as usual . . .

Lots and lots of empty seats at Canadian Nationals, I noticed.

[quote]No charges have been made, and there are no details released as of yet as to the nature of the allegations.

From the TSL video it appears the case might have been referred for criminal review when the suspension was upgraded. I have to assume law enforcement were starting to do their own investigation.

Who knows. I remember thinking he was kind of hot post-skating career. With his suicide he might have buried any attempts to bring any investigation to light. It is highly selfish, if he is indeed guilty.

Weaver/Poje and Gilles/Poirier skated well for the most part but I have serious interpretation issues with both FDs. So W/P's program (LOVED her dress, btw) was a tribute to Dennis Ten. How was it about him? It's like they just took a program they were going to do anyway and slapped his name on it. If Papadakis/Cizeron were doing a performance for a dead friend, it would be about life or death or have some meaning. It would be art instead of a generic ice dance routine.

Meanwhile, Gilles/Poirier are getting serious mileage out of that song. But they, too, are just dancing to music until he strikes his last pose. He's obviously Vincent...so what is she? She's wearing a dress inspired by the painting...but does she symbolize his art, his muse, Death? It doesn't make any sense. And Paul Poirier needs to stop with the mustache. He's using it as a prop to butch himself up and it comes across as desperate.

4 Continents will be very interesting. Weaver/Poje have made a good case for getting Silver. If Chock/Bates are clean, I think they have a better podium shot than G/P.

R435, I agree that the Denis Ten thing is a bit weird. I realize Weaver/Poje were saddened by his death, but I don't really see what he has to do with the actual program. And I thought they were casual friends, rather than close friends.

But I think Gilles/Poirier do have a great program overall. At least it has a bit of a story and an emotional connection. And Tracy Wilson said this is the best program G&P have ever done. They beat W&P in the FD, and they've never done that before, so this program is obviously strong.

As for the mustache, I'm not a fan of it, but I don't see a big problem with it. Paul only uses it during the RD. He looks more handsome in the FD costume when the mustache is gone.

So many empty seats at the Canadian Nationals. I guess that's what happens when you've got no skaters in the hunt for a gold medal.

^^at World's that is.

WEHT to that girl who got the 3rd spot at Olympics?

She's the starry night/inspiration; he's Vincent. So all those lifts--she's sort of hovering overhim as the sky, but also weighing him down at the end. It really is a beautiful piece.

W/P's FD was very pretty, but I didn't see what it had to do with Dennis Ten other being sad--and W/P love doing sad. I'd say their big weakness this year is that there's not enough difference between their RD and FD. They're not that dynamic a couple, never have been.

Re: Coughlin--Jenny (?) in the TSL says that SafeSport focuses on sexual misconduct. So something to do with an underage skater(s). Since SafeSport went way back into his career, it sounds like they were looking to see if there was a pattern--with the suspension indicating they may have found one.

R439 She was 4th yesterday

Canadian selections

WORLDs

Nam Nguyen

Keegan Messing

Alaine Chartrand

Lady#2 TBD after 4CCs

Lady#3 TBD after 4CCs

Kirsten Moore-Towers / Michael Marinaro

Evelyn Walsh / Trennt Michau

Kaitlyn Weaver / Andrew Poje

Piper Gilles / Paul Poirier

Laurence Fournier Beaudry / Nikolaj Sørensen

4 CONTINENTS

Nam Nguyen

Keegan Messing

Nicolas Nadeau

Alaine Chartrand

Véronik Mallet

Larkyn Austman

Kirsten Moore-Towers / Michael Marinaro

Evelyn Walsh / Trennt Michaud

Camille Ruest / Andrew Wolfe

Kaitlyn Weaver / Andrew Poje

Piper Gilles / Paul Poirier

Laurence Fournier Beaudry / Nikolaj Sørensen

JUNIOR WORLDS

Stephen Gogolev

Joseph Phan t

Alison Schumacher

Brooke McIntosh / Brandon Toste

Gabrielle Levesque / Pier-Alexandre Hudon

Marjorie Lajoie / Zachary Lagha

Alicia Fabbri / Paul Ayer

TSL deleted video?

[quote]So many empty seats at the Canadian Nationals. I guess that's what happens when you've got no skaters in the hunt for a gold medal.

They can still take satisfaction from the fact that they have eliminated all traces of gay from their proud manly Canadian sport.

R444 USA is coming in at a very close second

R444, Paul Poirier is gay and he's a big part of the Canadian skating team.

And so was Eric Radford.

Wasn't Cadey Denney 15 or 16 when she and Coughlin first started skating together? I never understood why he dumped Caitlin Yankowskas for Denney unless he was "dating" Denney.

Denney teamed up with Coughlin a month before she turned 18 (he was 25 at the time) and I'm pretty sure they were dating around that time. I guess I never realized the age difference back then.

Be interesting to see how the US National rinks fill... or of they're as empty as the Canadians.

Report: Pairs Skater John Coughlin Was Accused Of Sexual Misconduct With Minors

Wikipedia lists Denney's birth year as June of 1993. They first teamed up in 2006, and then again in 2008. They won the silver medal at Nationals in 2009, which made her 16 at the time.

No, that was her previous partner, Jeremy Barrett.

You're right, R452.

I can't believe TSL took down the video. That was probably the most informative interview they have ever done.

I think it has become clear why skating will not have a Gymnastics level reveal, the culture is extremely pro abuse.

I remember reading an article about abuse in US Swimming. Someone from the UK, IIRC, came to consult with them on a plan for reporting abusive coaches and he was warned about how stubborn everyone involved with swimming would be when it came to changing the status quo.

Canadian Dance podium:

Sorenson has some nice muscles.

It is of questionable taste to post a video about the faults of someone who's just committed suicide before rigor mortis has even set in. It's a topic that absolutely should be addressed, but it can be done without being totally inconsiderate of the loved ones of the deceased.

R458 first of all rigor mortis scientifically has already set in and secondly this is a discussion of alleged sexual assault allegations of multiple women against an individual. I can sympathize with his loved ones but I can also sympathize with the alleged victims. It is also inconsiderate of people who like him to say he was such a great guy that he couldn’t have done anything bad, that’s the same as calling the accusers liars before we know the facts. To be considerate of potential victims, they should mourn him without negating the allegations.

[quote]It is of questionable taste to post a video about the faults of someone who's just committed suicide before rigor mortis has even set in

It's never questionable to openly talk about a culture that allows abuse to be rampant, especially when the video in question respectfully addressed the situation.

Suicide is a selfish action that might have denied a victim the opportunity to seek justice and in theory denied John's family to clear his name.

On a lighter note, did you guys see Morozov's hand on Poje?

Who wants to bet Morozov will bed Mr Poje before the week is over...

Morozov is such a daddy

The Skating Lesson has posted an interview with Christine Brennan, discussing John Coughlin, SafeSport, and ethics in journalism

[quote]On a lighter note, did you guys see Morozov's hand on Poje?

[quote]Who wants to bet Morozov will bed Mr Poje before the week is over...

I've often wondered over the years whether Poje is gay.

He tries to portray a very masculine image, and once pronounced how straight he was during Skate Canada's "Get Tough" campaign.

In a CBC interview after Worlds last year, Weaver & Poje said they are just good friends.

Well if that's the case, then who is Poje sleeping with?

Panels for Dance at Euros

Technical Controller: Shawn Rattstatt (USA)

Technical Specialists: Sergei Baronov (Ukraine) and Andrej Dostani (Poland)

Referee: Rosella Ceccattini (Italy)

R461 both their hands on each other during the program, lots of caressing and not touch touching. I was think the same - they’ll gonna get a room or get a couple oscars.

37 year old, covered in tattoos, biceps like a body-builder, brother's a tag-along sleaze, grown son with long rap sheet, three baby-daddies among probably dozens of boyfriends, many likely rough-and-tumble types, likely from wrong side of the tracks herself, has a domestic assault charge fairly recently - and yet this delicate little lady has never put her paws on a pistol? Yeah right.

* oops wrong thread! sorry!!

Come back, R467! Where are you posting? Damn, that was interesting. For a moment, I was trying to figure out which skater you were talking about!

LOL It's like a throwback to the Tonya years... It was the Nichol Olsen thread.

R466, are you talking about Poje?

Nicole Bobek? Is she out of rehab?

R471 yes LOL but I can see how it may have been mistaken for other topic

What I find unusual about Weaver & Poje is that they seem to live together, but they say they are just friends.

Well, if he's gay and she's straight, it's not that strange--skaters don't have a ton of money and they'll have the same priorities. I find the Smart/Diaz/Hubbell/Donohue quad a little stranger. I sort of feel like they swapped around so they could avoid the tension of having sex with your partner, but still have the cosanguinity of it--partners, but one step removed.

Then there was Torvill and Dean. Both apparently straight, both marry other people, but when his marriage breaks up, he comes and lives on her couch for a while.

Yes, skating is expensive to pay for because of coaches, training, ice time, etc.

But at Weaver & Poje's level of success they can probably afford their own apartments, but perhaps it is more convenient for them to live in the same apartment when they're training with Morozov abroad.

It's just that Andrew is a good looking guy -- tall, nice body, etc. I assume he is sleeping with someone, unless he's celibate.

I assume Weaver/Poje travel a lot--may not be worth the expense of keeping separate apartments even if they can afford them. Plenty of people with apartment mates have sex with someone else, so their sharing doesn't rule out a boyfriend for either of them.

Of course Poje is gay. I still remember when Andrew was trying to make it seem like they were together, only for a fan to discover Weaver with her real boyfriend at a mall.

[quote]Of course Poje is gay.

I've often wondered if he is.

As I said above, I remember some years ago when he claimed to be straight during the "Get Tough" Skate Canada campaign.

But once in a while he pings to me. He doesn't ping as loud as Poirier, but I find it interesting that a guy who is going to be 32 next month with a body like this, doesn't seem to have a girlfriend:

Oh he has a girlfriend....name Nikolai Morozov

I thought Morozov preferred girls -- does he also like boys?

As for Poje, if he is gay as we suspect, then he's still pretty deep in the closet.

Poirier isn't officially out either, but he doesn't pretend he is straight. Poje may have more issues.

Poje seems so unfriendly. Too bad, cause he has great deep dish dimples.

Yeah, I've always found both Weaver and Poje a bit cold.

Weaver used to be real bitch when she first moved up to Canada to skate with Poje. She's become a bit less prickly over the past few years, but I've always preferred the friendliness of Gilles & Poirier.

If he didn’t have anything to hide, he’d be alive...

Nationals should be interesting.

NYTimes has now weighed in on the Coughlin situation and what it means for US Figure Skating

Unless Andrew has a grown a vagina, I doubt that Morozov is interested.

Gilles/Poirier just seem all around more fun--Weaver/Poje have droopy skating taste--remember "This Bitter Earth"? A cheery little FS about addiction. And now they're doing their murder-victim memorial. They just sound like a barrel of laughs. I will take the goofiest G/P campfest over that.

I think that Igor Spilband is very handsome.

R487, I agree.

Plus, I have a crush on Paul Poirier:

R485 DL, you failed me. Why didn’t you inform me that Coughlin’s agent and Maurizi’s wife was Tara Modlin from the original Johnny&Tara?

r485 so its partly a show from the US. Olympic Committee. Fund the damn organization so they can do their job!

"SafeSport says it resolves cases as quickly as possible, but acknowledges a backlog from being underfunded and understaffed. A three-year grant from the Justice Department, worth $2.2 million, is intended for education and prevention programs and cannot be used to reduce the case backlog or hire investigators, Hill said"

R478, the thing is that a lot of dance couples will pretend to be dating, regardless of the partners' sexual orientations. Virtue & Moir didn't deny rumors they were together, even though they were untrue, and Davis & White hid their long time opposite-sex partners until after the olympics. It's all part of trying to seem sexier and more passionate as a team on ice.

R490 it’s on the other (Hanzu) thread : response 345. And 346.

Oops R490 it is Response 545 on the most recent Hanzu thread!

Hanyu!!!

USFSA pushing for Coughlin's side

Dave deleted all of The Skating Lesson's social media accounts, took down all of their YouTube uploads from the past year, and cancelled his trip to nationals due to the numerous death threats he's recieved for posting about the coughlin investigation

Crazy. This has just been one bizarre turn of events after another.

Fuck ! I was planning to watch their US Nationals recaps.

Figure Skating can finally go the way of the dinosaur. I don't care. The USFSA is desperately trying to prevent a Gymnastics situation.

I’m equivocal about Dave, but this seems like a witch-hunt. Dave is like the bright light that distracts people while someone is getting murdered in the other room.

I just watched their review last night of the Canadian dance battle between Gilles/Poirier and Weaver/Poje.

So it's all been taken down now?

Guess it's just as well I watched it when I did.

The kids who are going to skate at nationals have nothing to do with this so don't be dumb and watch them please.

It’ll be hard since I’ll be wandering which boy/ girl is being sexually assaulted while the US Fed tries to hide the abusers indiscretions.

I can only imagine what they are going to do to that poor girl/boy who was the initial accuser. According to FSU, people want to confront the accuser when she competes at Nationals. Absolutely deplorable.

I bet a lot of the Skating moms are nasty ass Trump supporters.

R504 you beat me to the punch. I was gonna say Trump supporter cause it reminded me of Kavanaugh.

JFC, I only sporadically watch the TSL, but he did not deserve death threats for any of this. Coughlin was being investigated and he was suspended when he killed hmself.

If the accuser's being hounded and threatened as well, then there's all the more reason for skating to be investigated. This is sounding like a seriously dirty business.

I also don't like Dave or TSL, but he has the freedom of the press right to report. The knowledge of the suspension was publicly available online.

1) James/Cipres 76.55

2) Tarasova/Morozov 73.90 (quite gifted IMO)

3) Della Monica/Guarise 73.70

4) Boikova/Kozlovskii 72.58

5) Pavliuchenko/Kodykin 65.89

6) Hase/Seegert 60.08

7) Ziegler/Kiefer 57.70

8) Ghilardi/Amborsini 54.48

9) Barquero/Mestu 53.89

10) Petranovic/Souza-Kordeiuro 50.99

11) Jone/Boyadjj 45.33

R508, did Tarasova/Morozov make a lot of mistakes?

I'm a former skater (Boitano-Wylie era). I deleted my FB 2 years ago because I was sick of churchy and trumptardy types. Not surprised by any of this. I was skeptical of Dave when he came on the scene but he proved his knowledge. This is all disgusting; the rallying around the 'nice guy' and the selective reading of the differences between due process and due diligence. American skating is shit and will die from this.

R509 The 3T SBS was downgraded. Della Monica/Guarise out-TES them by 2 points but PCS T/M were closer to J/C (0.5 in favor of the French pair)

The Greens easily ahead of Nguyen/Kolesnik

R511, I find James/Cipres to be somewhat sloppy in their skating, but I notice that the judges are really pushing their marks up this year.

I guess their coach, former skating hunk John Zimmerman, must be happy.

After Lambiel, Joubert and Van Der Perrin retired, skating totally was ruined for me. Most of the skaters are personality deficient.

R510: Gossip?

Happy for James/Cipres--I know they're not the best, but my guess is that they get points for having a personality on the ice. Well, that and the push by the French federation . . .but they're not Sui/Han.

Worlds is going to be interesting since so many big players didn't do the GP--Sui/Han, Weaver/Poje, Chock/Bates, Hanyu . . .

r516 Hanyu did two GPs, just not the GPF.

James/Cipres are one of the few pairs that have enjoyable programs, so I guess good for them that they're pushed in their posseibly final season. They won't beat Sui/Han, but I'd love to seem get Worlds sliver.

Btw, I once had the opportunity to stand next to John Zimmerman at the urinals at Nationals a few years back.

I took a peek. Above-average size cut cock.

Silvia Fontana is lucky.

R518 isn’t etiquette to keep your eyes forward

R519, you're telling me that if you were standing next to a hot athlete, you wouldn't try to peek?

NBCSportsnetwork showing Nationals and Euros now in ET zone. US Pairs SP 5PM (1700) Euros (forgot what they’re showing) 7PM ET (1900) US Ladies SP .

James/Cipres won Euros. Tarasova/Morozov second 7 points behind. Boikova/Kozlovskii edged the Italians by less than 1 point.

Only 10 pairs finished. Ziegler/Kiefer withdrew as they have not emotionally recovered from the death of their coach last month. She was desperately in tears at the end of the SP

Next season

France 3 spots (difficult for them to get 3 pairs with minimum scores)

Russia 3 spots

Italy 3 spots (third spot may be difficult to fill)

Germany 2 spots

Spain 2 spots (no guarantee second team scores the minimum TES)

Croatia 2 spots (no second pair, I think)

Great Britain 2 spots (same as above)

all other countries 1 spot

Kolyada in the lead with 100 points. Samarin and Fernandez at 91. Aymoz strong 4th. Kovtun 5th

the cut off to qualify for FS was 60.89 points

Happy for Morgan/Cipres. Hopefully they can keep up momentum at Worlds.

Kayne/OShea in the lead after Pairs SP at US National. 71.83 points

Cain/LeDuc right behind with 70.47

Denney/Frazier and Stellato/Bartholomey are 3-4 with 68.something

Knierims are 7th with 61.56

Mervin Tran made his debut with Olivia Serafini. They are last.

R525, I can't keep up with Mervin Tran anymore.

Every year he seems to have a new partner or be representing a new country.

NBC Sports Network airing Euro men’s SP now 7PM (ET) followed by US ladies SP at 9PM. Ashley Wagner doing color commentary remotely.

Alysa liu is a spitfire

R528...meh, she's 13.

Call me when she's landing that Triple Axel consistently at 16, then we'll talk.

R529 Debbie downer, wah wah wah, can only speak on potential and she has it

R523, how come Fernandez is back?

I thought he said he was retiring after the Olympics?

Fernandez scoring the same as Samarin is laughable. Figures since Euros is in Belarus.

[quote]She's the starry night/inspiration; he's Vincent. So all those lifts--she's sort of hovering overhim as the sky, but also weighing him down at the end. It really is a beautiful piece.

R440, thanks for the insight into Piper & Paul's FD.

I agree -- it is a beautiful program. Tracy Wilson said it's the best program they've ever done.

Here's a link to last week's skate for those who didn't see it yet:

R533 I love the concept, but hate the song rendition they chose. Started well, but then all the "Ooos" and "Aaahs" really destroyed the mood I felt they were attempting to create on the ice.

Maybe I'm too married to the simple, unadorned Don McLean original version. Had they skated to that, I think it would've moved me a lot more.

What happened to the Knierems?

They're lazy.

R534, I like the Don McLean version too -- it's the one I grew up with. But this new one by Govardo is very nice.

Gilles & Poirier beat Weaver & Poje in the Free Dance, so the music has made an impact.

Here's Piper & Paul with the Govardo guys:

Another pic of Piper & Paul with Govardo:

Spanish judge put Stepanova/Bukin ahead of Papadakis/Cizeron in PCS today

French judge put S/B in third behind Guignard/Fabbri

The PCS marks for the Polish team was a clear East vs West

Some of the judges have really been trying to boost Stepanova/Bukin this season.

Did you see RD at US Nationals? What do you think about the results (C/B close to H/D and H/B closer to C/P and C/P ahead of M/C and P/P)?

Fernandez wins his 7th title. Kolyada and Kovtun bomb. Samarin wins silver. Steady as He goes Rizzo ends up with bronze

Just call us Mr. Bronze.

How the fuck did Samarin get an 88 and Kevin get an 84 in PCS in the FS?

Gadbois second tier teams struggling in the FS so far

Lauriault/Legac behind Galyavieva/Thauron

Smart/Diaz clearly beaten by Hurtado/Khaliavin

Should be enough for Guignard/Fabbri to keep the bronze

they need 114.91

they score 120.79

R544 because the judges wanted to give him a medal- were you thinking his skating mattered?

Papadakis/Cizeron wins. Should be comfortably over 130

that's 133.19

Bukin's "surprise" face is getting tiring

1 Papadakis/CIzeron 217.98 SB

2) Stepanova/Bukin 206.41 SB

3) Guignard/Fabbri 199.84 SB

4) Sinistina/Katsalapov 193.95

5) Kaliszek/Spodyriev 185.35 SB

6) Fear/Gibson 182.05 SB

7) Hurtado/Khaliavin 180.67 SB

8) Smart/Diaz 176.84

9) Evdomikova/Bazin 175.62 SB

10) Lauriault/Legac 172.33

11) Turkilla/Versluis 168.32 SB

12) Galyavieva/Thauron 168.02 SB

13) Alison Reed and anonymous blonde boy 164.11 SB

14) Tessari/Fioretti 162.94 SB

15) Koch/Nuchtern 159.81

16) Popova/Byelikov 152.01

17) Tweedale/Buckland 149.66

18) Kublikova/Hulitski 147.51 SB

19) Yanovaskaya/Lukacs 147.32

20) Ichilov/Davidovich 142.12 SB

Bottom Kevin scored 71 in the SP. He is in second place with 10 best skaters to go

r552 Thank you for reporting on what really matters! Has Jimmy Ma skated yet?

R552 yes, he is behind Sean Rabbitt but ahead of Kevin. He scored 74

Chen got 113 points

Wow, didn’t recognize Jason Brown with his new haircut, he looks so much better...virtually unrecognizable.

1 Nathan Chen 113.42

2 Jason Brown 100.52

3 Vincent Zhou 100.25

4 Tomoki Hiwatashi 84.05

5 Alex Krasnozhon 82.53

6 Timothy Dolensky 81.10

7 Sean Rabbitt 79.66

8 Camden Pulkinen 78.39

9 Andrew Torgashev 76.95

10 Jimmy Ma 74.84

11 Alex Johnson 74.07

12 Kevin Shum 74.07

13 Emmanuel Savary 69.89

14 Jordan Moeller 66.15

15 William Hubbart 65.34

16 Daniel Kulenkamp 64.64

17 Sebastien Payannet 61.55

18 Tony Lu 59.81

19 Ben Jalovick 58.51

20 Andrew Austin 45.68

[quote]Wow, didn’t recognize Jason Brown with his new haircut, he looks so much better...virtually unrecognizable.

Is Jason Brown with Brian Orser now?

Somebody(ies) really want to prop up Vincent. He should have had two underrotations called and his technical scores were greatly inflated. He should be low to mid 90s at best. Crazy to think Jimmy Ma could have been 5/6 if only had not popped that first jump. Love him and Bottom Kevin.

Well, you know you're in Detroit when the ads along the boards feature "Ollie's Bargain Outlet."

R556 the GOE and PCS inflation is so laughable- nationals I get but come on,

Pairs dramatic...with aborted lifts right and left

1 Cain/LeDuc 212.36

2 Denney/Frazier 201.64

3 Stellato/Bartholomay 199.92

4 Kayne/O'Shea 198.64

5 Calalang/Johnson 183.42

6 Lu/Mitrofanov 182.42

7 Knierim/Knierim 171.42

R557 yes. I think Tracy Wilson's his primary coach though

Last place?

Somewhere, Aliona Savchenko is smirking.

R162 there were other Pairs who placed worse than Knierims and skated this morning before Men SP....because even USFSA is ashamed of them!

I suppose even Spanish Fed can't find a way to send Smart/Diaz to Worlds

I wanna eat Nathan's ass!

Yeah, R565. Nathan does have a cute ass.

[quote]7 Knierim/Knierim 171.42

Are the Knierims finished?

R561 I'm not sure I've ever seen so many aborted lifts from top ranked pairs in a competition. WTF was in the water in Detroit? Did the ghost of John Coughlin curse the event?

The bigger question is, why has the U.S. been so weak in pairs for so many decades?

I wonder in which discipline the accuser skated on and who it was.

Probably someone that look overemotional after skating or withdrew.

Canada and Russia have won dozens of medals in Pairs at the Worlds and & Olympics over the decades.

Why can't the U.S. pairs achieve the same?

We have no tradition for pairs skating in the U.S. M ost of our pairs are former singles skaters who couldn't hack it so they decided to do pairs.

When was the last time a U.S. pair won a medal at Worlds or Olympics?

Was it Meno & Sand a couple decades ago?

Ina & Zimmerman

Oh, yes, right.

I & Z won a bronze at Worlds after Sale/Pelletier & Elena & Anton retired.

Was it Meno & Sand that won an Olympic medal? Or was it another U.S. pair in the late 80's?

R575 Wilson/Oppegard in 1988

Meno/Sand were 5th in 1994 and 8th in 1998

Thanks, R576.

I thought I remembered hearing a U.S. pair won an Olympic medal back in 1988.

Megan Whathername is first alternate for 4 Continents.

Watching Tarah Kayne fall apart in the kiss-and-cry after that huge foul-up on the last lift was some good TV.

What happened, R580?

Did she pull her hair? Yell at her partner?

Parsons have a new FD. Parsons boy splattered on the twizzle. We won't see that FD anyway

R581 here we go

Wow, Manta and Johnson were really enjoyable. Loved the program.

Wow, she looks very traumatized, R582.

And I don't think I've ever seen a pairs skater just stop & look so frozen for half a minute during a program like that.

Karina Manta/Jo Johnson outscore the Parsons in the FD

On Italian TV broadcast of the Euro Free Dance, the co-commentator who is also a ISU technical specialist , started with " behind the scene some have being saying..."

and for a moment I thought we would get some juicy gossip

it turned out that after RD some complained about Fear/Gibson's scores because they see them "more as entertainers rather than ice dancers"....the Italian TS doesn't agree with them because " it is part of the purpose....it is called ice dance....not something else on ice"

I would have not guessed that F/B would have been a "hot" topic behind the scene.

I'd rather fuck Nathan than that rat face Vincent

top 3 ice dance as expected

McNamara/Carpenter get 4th place over Carreira/Ponomarenko.

H/D 4 points ahead of C/B.

H/B 5-6 points in front of Mc/C and C/P

Someone please tell Carpenter to shave

Wait Joseph Johnson is gay too ??? I thought his partner Karina Manta was the one who came out.

Nice, love his ginger cute butt. Mmmmmmm

More figure skaters should pose naked.

Openly gay Timothy LeDuc is our national champion! Bravo! Bravo!

Kayne girl is certainly... um... dramatic.

[quote]Openly gay Timothy LeDuc is our national champion! Bravo! Bravo!

Nice.

Much better than seeing those fundie Knierims win.

I would have put Stellato and whatshisname ahead of the 2nd place team. How many pairs do we send to worlds?

Does Timothy LeDuc have a boyfriend?

Really happy for Tim and Ashley.

I've been totally digging those grey tights Tim has been sporting this season. Talk about a great ass.

It made him look beefy, R595, dare I say fit-fat.

Mariah Bell needs to start wearing costumes with sleeves, and maybe gloves. Her arms and hands get so red in the cold that it's distracting.

And while I'm nit-picking the ladies, some of them need to pick nicer tights. Some of them were wearing shades that were too dark, Very distracting. All of the ice dance ladies wore hose much closer to their natural skin color and looked far better.

So what is this about red hats and a ribbon I keep hearing about? Apparently they happened in the pair short program and they were there to intimidate John's accuser?

OMG, I have lost respect for all of these skaters.

Thank god for Stellato/Bartholimay, Lu/Mitrofonov, Alexa & Chris Knierim , Tim Le Duc & Ashley that were having none of it.

Now that I know what Tara and her creepy partner did in the short program, I am so happy they imploded in the FP and were left off the podium.

Yay! We have a gay national champion.

A lot of comments about the Knierims today but no one mentions C. Knierem’s wrist injury? It was announced on NBC that Chris Knierim suffered a ligament injury to his wrist that requires surgery. The injury happened this past summer ? can’t remember precisely the time frame mentioned but it would account for a return to the US for evaluation and continuing treatment likely at the Olympic Center in Colorado Springs. They made the decision to postpone surgery and (try to) get through the season according to the NBC coverage. Certainly did not work out for them. The drs. and PTs must have given them hope that the plan could work.