Figure Skating

[Growsonwalls]

This picture made me all sorts of happy. The three ladies do look great: 

[annzeepark914]

uh-oh...who's on the right? The bronze medalist in pairs at that Olympics? Can't think of her name but I think her partner/exhusband married, oh no, can't think of her name (Michelle beat her at 1996 Worlds). 

[HartofDixie]

12 minutes ago, annzeepark914 said:

uh-oh...who's on the right? The bronze medalist in pairs at that Olympics? Can't think of her name but I think her partner/exhusband married, oh no, can't think of her name (Michelle beat her at 1996 Worlds). 

Isabelle Brasseur

[doodlebug]

2 hours ago, annzeepark914 said:

uh-oh...who's on the right? The bronze medalist in pairs at that Olympics? Can't think of her name but I think her partner/exhusband married, oh no, can't think of her name (Michelle beat her at 1996 Worlds). 

Isabelle Brasseur was paired with Lloyd Eisler and they won the bronze in both '92 and '94.

Eisler is now married to Kristie Swanson (BTVS movie) who he met on a celebrity skating TV show.  He abandoned his wife and several kids including a newborn for her.  He and Kristie have been married 10 years or so.

Brasseur and Eisler had a very athletic and adventuresome style of skating which was different from the more artistic and classical pairs like Gordeeva/Grinkov and Mishketunok/Dmitriev who took gold and silver.  B/E were really exciting to watch, IMO.

[halopub]

One of the Japanese dailies is reporting that the Shibutanis are planning on competing in Beijing.

[ChicksDigScars]

42 minutes ago, doodlebug said:

Isabelle Brasseur was paired with Lloyd Eisler and they won the bronze in both '92 and '94.

Eisler is now married to Kristie Swanson (BTVS movie) who he met on a celebrity skating TV show.  He abandoned his wife and several kids including a newborn for her.  He and Kristie have been married 10 years or so.

Brasseur and Eisler had a very athletic and adventuresome style of skating which was different from the more artistic and classical pairs like Gordeeva/Grinkov and Mishketunok/Dmitriev who took gold and silver.  B/E were really exciting to watch, IMO.

And Isabelle married former U.S. pairs champion, Rocky Marval. I think that they have a daughter who is a figure skater, too. I think she used to compete in pairs at the junior level. 

[Growsonwalls]

G/G, M/D and B/E. What a great podium. 

And this isn't based on anything but a theory but in my experience female figure skaters look BETTER after they retire. I wonder if it's because the disordered eating is so prevalent in figure skating that many of them while skating competitively have this bloated, sickly look masked by tons of makeup. When they retire and are on a healthier diet they look amazing.

It's kind of ironic that at the time Artur Dmitriev said openly that he wanted to ditch Natalia as a partner because she was "fat." Now years later Natalia looks amazing and Artur looks like this:

[SeanC]

3 hours ago, doodlebug said:

Eisler is now married to Kristie Swanson (BTVS movie) who he met on a celebrity skating TV show.  He abandoned his wife and several kids including a newborn for her.  He and Kristie have been married 10 years or so.

And was basically forced into exile by Skate Canada after they banned him from coaching due to allegation of impropriety with one of his students.  So he moved to coach in the USA.

2 hours ago, ChicksDigScars said:

And Isabelle married former U.S. pairs champion, Rocky Marval. I think that they have a daughter who is a figure skater, too. I think she used to compete in pairs at the junior level. 

Gabriella Marvaldi did indeed compete in pairs, though she never got past a certain level, and now does some ice dance stuff, I believe.

Isabelle's niece Justine is also a pair skater.

Edited November 14, 2019 by SeanC

[HartofDixie]

Eisler appears in this video. 

[HartofDixie]

https://mobile.twitter.com/rockerskating/status/1195012200143867904

[Sew Sumi]

I saw B/E in up close and personal at '92 Worlds. They walked right by us in the lobby. We were going to the restroom during an ice wipe in between flights of the Ladies short program.

[Jaded]

I loved watching Isabelle Brasseur with Lloyd Eisler back in the day when there were all those professional events in the 90's where the rules were more lax. I remember CBS showing a lot of skating during the years when they lost the rights to air NFL games.

[andromeda331]

Well NBC Sports Gold was a waste of money. It doesn't always load, buffers a lot and they won't let you fast forward more then a few seconds. Who doesn't want to watch the Zamboni machine on ice forever?  Also they never show where anyone is in the standings or at the end. Thanks to that I missed all but one Skate America and two Skate Canadas. I did get to see all of France and China. Brady and Mariah are doing so well. Nathan of course and of course the Russians. Except Elizabet Tursynbayeva I agree with the person who said watching her is like watching a slow skater. Slow and really not that good. Evgenia Medvedeva could be so much better if she could get a new coach. Yuzuru Hanyu is still really good. I still like Karen and Karoi. Sorry
to hear that Vincent isn't coming back. At least for now. That's too bad. Jason Brown's program was really good.

Edited November 16, 2019 by andromeda331

[Darknight]

So RusFed is pissed their skaters are being called and judging is inconsistent. They should be ashamed of themselves at this point. Especially Danii who posted the unfair edge calls on Anna's jumps. That's not a Lz Danii. The ISU should make judging fair and consistent. So it's ok to ignore Russian skaters bad technique? I'm confused. How will this advance the sport? How is this fair for skaters who do proper tech? They also want quads in the SP. I'm not fully against this but I'm sorry, I still need to see a grown women pass the age of puberty to land a fully form quad. If the russian ladies or any lady can land a proper quad at 18 or 20,22, then look at adding quads to the SP. 

Trusova will probably get a 260 and PCS scores of 9 and 10s this weekend. 

I'm upset Koylada is not competing. I hope he feels better and we can see him at Russian Nationals.

On 11/10/2019 at 1:56 AM, displayname said:

But you can on their YT channel, now, though, using a proxy if needed.

Sadly, they're cracking down on this too. 

[HartofDixie]

Rostelecom Cup results http://www.isuresults.com/results/season1920/gprus2019/

[Ruby Gillis]

17 hours ago, SeanC said:

And was basically forced into exile by Skate Canada after they banned him from coaching due to allegation of impropriety with one of his students.  So he moved to coach in the USA.

ugh, why would anyone let Eisler coach?

[doodlebug]

10 hours ago, Sew Sumi said:

I saw B/E in up close and personal at '92 Worlds. They walked right by us in the lobby. We were going to the restroom during an ice wipe in between flights of the Ladies short program.

I'll see your up close and raise you a conversation. I was fortunate enough to attend the Ladies' Short in Lillehammer in '94.  The other skating medals had all been awarded.  We were seated right next to the Canadian team including Brasseur and Eisler, Kurt Browning, Elvis Stojko and the rest.  They were great, talking to us between skaters and signing a ton of autographs, posing for pictures.  There is a lot of down time at those competitions because the early rounds of skaters are usually not competitive and spend a lot of time falling.  Then, there is Zamboni time between groups.  The entire Canadian team was terrific; friendly, cheering for their team mates, joking around, it made it even more special.

Probably one of the most emotional moments I've ever experienced at a sporting event came after Josee Chouinard of Canada skated poorly in the short.  I went to the ladies room and passed her sobbing in Kurt Browning's arms in an alcove just off the passageway, as he tried to comfort her.  I remember she skated to 'An American in Paris'.  She was a lovely skater but often her nerves got the best of her.

Edited November 15, 2019 by doodlebug

[displayname]

2 hours ago, Darknight said:

Sadly, they're cracking down on this too. 

No?

[Jeddah]

3 hours ago, Darknight said:

I'm not fully against this but I'm sorry, I still need to see a grown women pass the age of puberty to land a fully form quad. If the russian ladies or any lady can land a proper quad at 18 or 20,22, then look at adding quads to the SP. 

Tursynbayeva was 19 when she landed a quad at senior Worlds last year. 

[healthnut]

5 hours ago, Jeddah said:

Tursynbayeva was 19 when she landed a quad at senior Worlds last year. 

And now she’s injured.

[Domenicholas]

Isn't Tursynbayeva very small and lithe too? Will bustier and hippier women be able to maintain their quads, or will women's figure skating reach the point of being only for small, lithe teenagers who are put out to pasture at 20 when puberty catches up to them?

[Jeddah]

1 hour ago, healthnut said:

And now she’s injured.

She’s 19 and decided to do a quad. It’s patronizing to act like she must be protected from herself.

There are skaters who don’t do quads who get injured. There are ice dancers who don’t do any jumps that get injured. There is no sport where nobody ever gets injured.

24 minutes ago, Domenicholas said:

Isn't Tursynbayeva very small and lithe too? Will bustier and hippier women be able to maintain their quads, or will women's figure skating reach the point of being only for small, lithe teenagers who are put out to pasture at 20 when puberty catches up to them?

I find comments like this to be gross. Some people are small and lithe. She accomplished something never done before, but people want to talk about how she doesn’t have busts and hips. Focus on what the athlete does, not whether or not they are curvy enough for your liking. I want skaters to be judged by what they do on the ice, not their body types, and that goes both ways.

[Domenicholas]

10 hours ago, Jeddah said:

She’s 19 and decided to do a quad. It’s patronizing to act like she must be protected from herself.

There are skaters who don’t do quads who get injured. There are ice dancers who don’t do any jumps that get injured. There is no sport where nobody ever gets injured.

I find comments like this to be gross. Some people are small and lithe. She accomplished something never done before, but people want to talk about how she doesn’t have busts and hips. Focus on what the athlete does, not whether or not they are curvy enough for your liking. I want skaters to be judged by what they do on the ice, not their body types, and that goes both ways.

I didn’t mean any offense, nor was I in anyway criticizing her physique or her great accomplishment. I was just pointing out that the women we see doing quads are smaller and leaner in build, and (as far as I know, I’m not sure) we haven’t seen any taller or stockier women attempting to learn quads. Women’s center of gravity also gets lower the older they get, which may or may not affect their ability to do quads. Who knows...maybe they will start training them anyway. Maybe Trusova and skaters like her will maintain their quads well into their 20s; twenty years ago it would have been unimaginable for men’s skating to be dominated by quads, and yet here we are.

[nittany cougar]

4 hours ago, Domenicholas said:

I didn’t mean any offense, nor was I in anyway criticizing her physique or her great accomplishment. I was just pointing out that the women we see doing quads are smaller and leaner in build, and (as far as I know, I’m not sure) we haven’t seen any taller or stockier women attempting to learn quads. Women’s center of gravity also gets lower the older they get, which may or may not affect their ability to do quads. Who knows...maybe they will start training them anyway. Maybe Trusova and skaters like her will maintain their quads well into their 20s; twenty years ago it would have been unimaginable for men’s skating to be dominated by quads, and yet here we are.

You are correct.  It is absolutely not sexist, just a fact that it is harder to do the jumps as an adult women if you learned them when you had a child's body.  I have heard commentators talking about  problems with jumps following a growth spurt.

Here is a news article which mentions growth issues for Kimmie Meissner and Michelle Kwan.

https://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/bal-te.sp.meissner10feb10-story.html

Edited November 16, 2019 by nittanycougar

[Darknight]

23 hours ago, Jeddah said:

Tursynbayeva was 19 when she landed a quad at senior Worlds last year. 

The majority of girls don't have her body type and I fear they'll starve themselves trying to get it. Sadly she has a serious back injury I believe a spinal fracture I'm not sure. Her mom said she couldn't even bend down or walk. She is missing the entire season this year. 

[Darknight]

Many girls lose their jumps during puberty. It's similar in dance and gymnastics too. They have to relearn technique and how to perform with their new body. Liza had this issue. She lost her 3A. Women have hips and breasts which slows down rotation speed and changes the centre of gravity. If quads are to be a thing in ladies skating then we have to see grown women with a grown woman body do them. Not little girls. 

Samarin got a 5+ for his 4Lz. Judges must clearly be on something. 

[Mellowyellow]

Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooot

I am almost certain Bradie has made GPF!!!!!!!!

*Squeeeeees like a maniac*

Soooooooo happy that she's getting the recognition she deserves. This will be mighty good for her reputation and in era of quads and triple axels Bradie has managed to fight her way up!!!!!

*Does happy dance before running off to freak out about Rika which is my usual hobby*

[Jeddah]

4 hours ago, nittanycougar said:

You are correct.  It is absolutely not sexist, just a fact that it is harder to do the jumps as an adult women if you learned them when you had a child's body. 

I agree growth spurts and different body types do affect the way someone skates. That’s true for both the women and men. I think that more should be done to combat disordered eating, in skating and society in general. 
But, no, it is absolutely innapropriate to comment on who is or is not “bustier and hippier.”

Edited November 16, 2019 by Jeddah

[healthnut]

Gracie finished third at eastern sectionals, she has qualified for nationals!

[Sew Sumi]

I totally forgot to watch the LP tonight! Thanks for the update.

[SeanC]

The best reaction shot from Rostelecom.

These two are short program skaters who always struggle in the free, so when Stolbova/Novoselov's disaster opened the door, it was great that they were able to walk through it.  And the first German Grand Prix medal not for Aljona Savchenko in almost a decade.

Piper & Paul made the Grand Prix Final for the first time in five years, in the process doubling the record for the longest gap between Final appearances for dancers (nobody else has ever missed more than two Finals between appearances).

[displayname]

That was mostly a joke event, outside of Pairs.

[HartofDixie]

[BlackberryJam]

Good for Sasha. She was never one of my favorites but I certainly want her to be happy.

If I thought these Eteri-coached skaters were making choices based on their own mature reasoning, I'd be more supportive. It's not as if they have ever been given the opportunity to grow, and think, and reason outside her rink. It's not like someone turns 18 and suddenly is capable of adult reasoning.

No, I'm not saying someone needs to protect these women from doing quads, but I don't believe they are given the necessary information or the opportunity to make long term choices for their own best interests.

[annzeepark914]

On 11/14/2019 at 1:47 PM, Growsonwalls said:

G/G, M/D and B/E. What a great podium. 

And this isn't based on anything but a theory but in my experience female figure skaters look BETTER after they retire. I wonder if it's because the disordered eating is so prevalent in figure skating that many of them while skating competitively have this bloated, sickly look masked by tons of makeup. When they retire and are on a healthier diet they look amazing.

It's kind of ironic that at the time Artur Dmitriev said openly that he wanted to ditch Natalia as a partner because she was "fat." Now years later Natalia looks amazing and Artur looks like this:

Amen!! When I saw Natalia in her posted photo, I immediately thought of how bad Artur looks today. She was gorgeous back then and still beautiful today. She loved Fat Artur when they were skating together but it was said that he had someone else. I always felt badly for  Natalia.  She's probably now counting her blessings that she didn't end up with Sluggo!

[ChicksDigScars]

NHK Trophy results page:

http://www.isuresults.com/results/season1920/gpjpn2019/

Dance looks interesting. Well, the race for silver and bronze does, anyway. Stepanova and Bukin (probably silver), Fear and Gibson, and Ponomorenko and Carreira fighting over the bronze? 

[healthnut]

Very interested in men’s event, I’m hoping Jason skates strong and qualifies for Grand Prix final. 

Im interested in dance event as well to see how S/B score in relation to C/B, H/D, and G/P, they’ve had a lot of time to improve since Skate America. Also interested to see the two American teams. With Hawayek & Baker falling so hard this season, there’s definitely an opening for the third US dance team. 

[ChicksDigScars]

8 minutes ago, healthnut said:

Im interested in dance event as well to see how S/B score in relation to C/B, H/D, and G/P, they’ve had a lot of time to improve since Skate America. Also interested to see the two American teams. With Hawayek & Baker falling so hard this season, there’s definitely an opening for the third US dance team. 

I can't wait to see how the Dance event shakes out at Nationals. Both H/D and H/B have gotten a bit of a smackdown from international judges this year. I'd love to see an upset at the top of the U.S. podium (Go, Chock and Bates!!). I adore C/B's free dance!

And if the U.S. judges are taking H/B's criticisms to heart, will C/P take over the bronze position? Even though C/P are young, Ponomorenko is an ice dance legacy. I can see them wanting to capitalize on that.  Should be an excellent event!

[TwoBitUsherette]

6 hours ago, ChicksDigScars said:

NHK Trophy results page:

http://www.isuresults.com/results/season1920/gpjpn2019/

Dance looks interesting. Well, the race for silver and bronze does, anyway. Stepanova and Bukin (probably silver), Fear and Gibson, and Ponomorenko and Carreira fighting over the bronze? 

After the underwhelming line-up at Rostelecom, NHK looks so much more exciting! Fear/Gibson would be a fun surprise for the bronze, but I'm guessing it will be Guignard/Fabbri. They scored 203.34 at IdF vs F/G's 195.35 at Skate Canada. However, they're apparently debuting a new Grease rhythm dance tonight, so we'll see how that goes over.

I'll definitely be keeping my eyes on C/P's scores tonight because I think you're absolutely right that they could knock H/B off the bronze at nationals. Even though I don't think they're technically as good as M/C, they're a lot more memorable and obviously seem to be getting a real push from the judges as far as the younger crop of U.S. teams goes.

Edited November 21, 2019 by TwoBitUsherette

[Mellowyellow]

I'm stressed. Rika seems a bit wishy washy with her jump layout.

Not sure whether she's going for the 4S or not and the Lutz is not really back. Probably better to get a lower color medal now and save herself for GPF.

[Darknight]

Sui/Cong are the ones to beat. 

Poor Jason. I was rooting for him.

Karen top 3. I wish she was consistent. She has beautiful spins. 

So Russian Fed has a judge who was caught cheating. WTH. Why is he judging if he was caught cheating? ISU and Russian Fed need to get it together

Alina. Poor Alina. She was in the same position as Alena two seasons ago. She won everything and was the new it girl. It's sad to see her skating go down hill. She looks over it at this point. I really loved her red ballerina program. She looks done.  Sad. I can't get attached to any Eteri skater because after two season they're done. Alena might survive but at this point I don't know. Seeing Evgenia go downhill, Yulia, Polina, and now Alina, makes me realize Anna, Alexandra, and Alena will be replaced by her upcoming young quad skaters who are 11/12/13 right now. Russia doesn't even allow their skaters to breathe and grow before replacing them. 

Thank goodness Rika changed her costume. I can't get into her programs this year. 

Edited November 22, 2019 by Darknight

[Enero]

6 hours ago, Darknight said:

Alina. Poor Alina. She was in the same position as Alena two seasons ago. She won everything and was the new it girl. It's sad to see her skating go down hill. She looks over it at this point. I really loved her red ballerina program. She looks done.  Sad. I can't get attached to any Eteri skater because after two season they're done. Alena might survive but at this point I don't know. Seeing Evgenia go downhill, Yulia, Polina, and now Alina, makes me realize Anna, Alexandra, and Alena will be replaced by her upcoming young quad skaters who are 11/12/13 right now. Russia doesn't even allow their skaters to breathe and grow before replacing them. 

Indeed. I remember when people would complain about the “little 15 year olds” coming out of nowhere to steal the OGM from Kwan, but at least Kwan was able to give them a run for their money, and continued skating and winning long after they were gone. Alina and Evgenia seem to be washed up and nearly pushed out after being Queen for a year or two. SMH.

Regarding Alina’s SP program, to be honest it is just blah, from the screaming singing to the so so choreography. She’s still rushing through her transitions, not holding them long enough and thus not connecting with the music IMO. And she always looks as if she’s barely making it through her jumps. She doesn’t have the fluidity of her competitors. 

I wish her and Evgenia the best. A lot can happen in three years and all the teeny-quadsters could’ve declined or been replaced by the next Olympics. But then another year or two of this, them not making the grade could result in them being pushed out of all the major competitions which would leave them with little opportunity for a comeback. 

I was able to enjoy Rika’s program despite my dislike for the music, which is annoying. The choreography was interesting and utilized the highlights in the music well though  her costume is beautiful and I always love her hair clips and her flying ponytail. So different from everyone else’s tight bun or braided up hair styles. 

I thought Alena K was very good. There’s a lightness to her skating and her jumps look so easy. She has great packaging. I’d argue she’s much better than some of the teen quadsters coming out of Russia. However, I think the gap between her and Rika should be a little smaller. She wasn’t THAT much better than Rika. That said, if Rika skates clean she could possibly make up that gap and win. 

Good for Karen Chen making it to third place despite the low base value of her program. She has nice packaging but she’s very basic. Nothing really stands out about her. Perhaps this is mainly due to the choreography which seemed very familiar and thus uninteresting. 

Hanyu is still Hanyu. Incredible. But dam I hate Otonal, but love Jeffrey Buttle’s choreography to it.

Love love love Sui and Han’s SP. The choreography is wonderful. Finally Lori Nichol choreographs something that doesn’t look like a recycled Michelle Kwan program circa 1998.  But perhaps that’s because this is a pairs program and not a singles. Ha ha.

They are most certainly the ones to beat, I think, unless Cipres/James return to Worlds with guns blazing. But even then, and as much as I love them, they don’t have the polish of Sui/Han. So it would be an uphill battle for them to take gold if the Sui/Han go clean. 

[displayname]

2 hours ago, Enero said:

Love love love Sui and Han’s SP. The choreography is wonderful. Finally Lori Nichol choreographs something that doesn’t look like a recycled Michelle Kwan program circa 1998.  But perhaps that’s because this is a pairs program and not a singles. Ha ha.

She's made several good choreographies in the past several years, not just for Sui and Han.

[TwoBitUsherette]

Rough night for U.S. pairs.

Chris Knierim seems completely checked out, and tonight he may have finally broken Alexa. The lift exit was painful, and she was pissed coming off the ice and in the K&C.

And I don't know what's happening with K/O. Tonight wasn't their worst skate of the season, but that doesn't mean it was good. I hope that they seriously consider getting out of CO Springs after this season.

If I had to guess at this point, I'd say C-G/L and D/F will be the two teams going to worlds.

[healthnut]

10 hours ago, Enero said:

They are most certainly the ones to beat, I think, unless Cipres/James return to Worlds with guns blazing. But even then, and as much as I love them, they don’t have the polish of Sui/Han. So it would be an uphill battle for them to take gold if the Sui/Han go clean. 

Don’t sleep on Boikova/Kozlovski, they have the highest point total this season. 

US pairs are a mess as usual but Alexa & Chris were even worse than usual. 

Not impressed with Carriera & Ponomarenko at all. That flamenco free skate is tired and not a good vehicle for them. 

[Jeddah]

19 hours ago, Darknight said:

Alina. Poor Alina. She was in the same position as Alena two seasons ago. She won everything and was the new it girl. It's sad to see her skating go down hill. She looks over it at this point. I really loved her red ballerina program. She looks done.  Sad. I can't get attached to any Eteri skater because after two season they're done. 

She medaled in both her Grand Prix events, and qualified for the Final. People said this about her last year, and she won the World Championship. I think it’s a bit premature to act like her career is over. She’s won everything there is to win. If she was miserable and didn’t want to skate, she wouldn’t be skating.

Edited November 23, 2019 by Jeddah

[wintrygal]

Congrats to Roman Sadovsky of Canada on capturing the bronze!  I'm wondering if that is his first Grand Prix medal, kudos, good job.

Edited November 23, 2019 by wintrygal
Also congrats to Moore-Towers & Marinaro on the silver medal.

[Growsonwalls]

Well Virtue/Moir have apparently skated their last skate together:

[Jaded]

2 minutes ago, Growsonwalls said:

Well Virtue/Moir have apparently skated their last skate together:

[Enero]

I didn’t see this posted here. Congratulations to her and her fiancé! 🙂 

Olympic Figure Skater Sasha Cohen Pregnant With Her First Child

Edited November 24, 2019 by Enero