Figure Skating

[ChicksDigScars]

On 6/8/2018 at 4:21 AM, displayname said:

Kostner's doing another season, it seems.

WHYYYYYYY.

On 6/19/2018 at 1:27 PM, boaty mcboatface said:

I think it's mostly to do with what they felt were unfair decisions and DQs in the short track. But 2 Chinese Olympics judges have also been under investigation for national bias and have in fact been given suspensions today, one for ludicrous overscoring of Boyang Jin and the other for blatant underscoring of Savchenko/Massot in order to boost Sui/Han. However, they weren't the only ones with highly questionable marks, just the only ones singled out. 

Considering the whole mess in Beijing with fudging their "women's" gymnastics team's birth certificates to make the girls age eligible, if this is going on now, I can't WAIT to see the home cooking in 2022. 

[displayname]

On 3/1/2018 at 3:49 PM, ChicksDigScars said:

And now, representing Italy, Carolina Kostner and her walker, skating to Hallelujah and Carmen! 

@ChicksDigScars Because you tempted her.

[SeanC]

Kaitlyn and Andrew are skipping the Grand Prix circuit in favour of the "Thank You Canada" tour, following on the heels of Kaetlyn doing the same, which means the Grand Prix Final in Canada is likely to have very few Canadians in it and not great odds of any Canadian medalist.  Kaitlyn and Andrew did explicitly confirm they're going to come back for Nationals, which Kaetlyn hasn't said anything on yet.

[HartofDixie]

Weaver/Poje sitting out Grand Prix and won’t compete until Canadian Nationals.

[ChicksDigScars]

On 6/21/2018 at 1:03 PM, displayname said:

@ChicksDigScars Because you tempted her.

My apologies to EVERYONE. 

 

I'm assuming some Moulin Rouge will also make it in, along with Carmen and Hallelujah? 

[displayname]

1 hour ago, ChicksDigScars said:

I'm assuming some Moulin Rouge will also make it in, along with Carmen and Hallelujah? 

Speaking of Carmen, Daleman's bringing hers back.

[Jeddah]

4 minutes ago, displayname said:

Speaking of Carmen, Daleman's bringing hers back.

Noooo! Carmen is bad enough, but then that version just added to the terribleness. In general I don’t like skaters reusing old programs, but this one I’m especially dreading seeing again.

[SeanC]

4 hours ago, ChicksDigScars said:

I'm assuming some Moulin Rouge will also make it in, along with Carmen and Hallelujah? 

No Moulin Rouge programs announced as yet, as far as I'm aware, though given that the 2019-2020 season's rhythm dance theme is "Broadway/Musical", expect an overload of Moulin Rouge there.

Carolane Soucisse/Shane Firus are doing "Earned It" for their FD this year, apparently, which I'm looking forward to, since James and Cipres' SD to that was one of my favourite pairs programs of the last quad.

[annzeepark914]

Actually, I really loved Stellato/Bartholomew's Hallelujah SP this past year.  The music just blended with their choreography and style of skating.  But I don't want to keep hearing that music over and over ad nauseum.  I can't remember the names of certain musical pieces over the years but some made me hit the mute button as soon as I heard the irritating opening chords (would Requiem be one of them? and something from Matrix?).  When I watch these great athletes skating their programs to some of the worst (IMO of course) music in the world, I wonder how they can tolerate hearing it day after day. 

It's only the end of June...but I'm ready for some figure skating competitions!

[SeanC]

I recall in some interviews he gave after Worlds, Keegan Messing said he wanted to try to do a quad Axel.  Apparently, he really is trying to get that down:

[HartofDixie]

Grand Prix assignments

http://figureskatersonline.com/news/2018/06/28/isu-announces-2018-19-grand-prix-assignments/

[legaleagle53]

On 6/27/2018 at 8:54 PM, SeanC said:

I recall in some interviews he gave after Worlds, Keegan Messing said he wanted to try to do a quad Axel.  Apparently, he really is trying to get that down:

So THAT'S how skaters train for jumps. I always wondered how they did that!

[SeanC]

15 hours ago, HartofDixie said:

Grand Prix assignments

http://figureskatersonline.com/news/2018/06/28/isu-announces-2018-19-grand-prix-assignments/

A lot of surprise not-retirements there.  It seems like hardly any of the men, especially, retired at the end of the quad.  I could swear Kevin Reynolds announced he was retiring, in particular.

Gracie Gold is back -- so the rumours were true.

That Skate Canada ladies field is World Championship deep.

[Enero]

2 minutes ago, SeanC said:

A lot of surprise not-retirements there.  It seems like hardly any of the men, especially, retired at the end of the quad.  I could swear Kevin Reynolds announced he was retiring, in particular.

Gracie Gold is back -- so the rumours were true.

That Skate Canada ladies field is World Championship deep.

Agreed. The women’s event looks the most interesting at Skate Canada. 

I was going to ask about the names of those who have apparently retired on the list ie Denis Ten and Gracie Gold (though she hasn’t officially retired) to be specific. With them being listed I guess it means they are expected back?

Also, it’s strange seeing Hanyu having assignments other than NHK and Skate Canada. He’s done those events for years, now Shoma has them. I’m sure now that he won’t be at Skate Canada that event (the men’s competition at least) will be bleeding tickets. Like him or hate him Hanyu does put asses in the seats when he’s at a competition.

[SeanC]

2 hours ago, Enero said:

Also, it’s strange seeing Hanyu having assignments other than NHK and Skate Canada. He’s done those events for years, now Shoma has them. 

Because Hanyu is unseeded, it would have been difficult for him to do those while also not overlapping with Shoma.

Nathan claimed Skate America and France with his champion’s privilege, and Russia obviously called Rostelecom for Kolyada.  Thus, the only events Shoma could do are SCI, Finland, and NHK, and doing Finland would mean back-to-back events with lengthy travel in between.

[displayname]

Zag is doing Carmen too.

Yay. 

[MaKaM]

5 hours ago, displayname said:

Zag is doing Carmen too.

Yay. 

Good of her to get it out of her system early in the quad. It doesn't seem like Eteri is the type of coach who is going to push the boundaries in regards to music choice and program choreography.

[ombelico]

30 minutes ago, MaKaM said:

It doesn't seem like Eteri is the type of coach who is going to push the boundaries in regards to music choice and program choreography.

Medvedeva skated to the sounds of 9/11, though.

[BelleBrit]

It's exciting to see Gracie Gold on the gp assignment list, but I also hope that she  does not get crushed by people's unrealistic expectations of her.  She was (bravely) candid about her personal struggles in the Fall, but she had also lost her ability to do triple jumps  and double axels between 2017 nationals in January and 2017 Stars on Ice in April, and was doing show numbers with doubles. *Spies on Twitter (*I know, but these were also the people who first broke that Gracie was training with Vincent Restencourt, so hopefully they somewhat know what they are talking about) had said that Gracie is doing well, but that she doesn't have triples yet, and it could be awhile.  Though that was maybe a month ago, so perhaps she's made more progress since then.  But  that's a long time to not be doing triples, and being able to do a triple vs incorporating multiple triples into an entire program is a whole other ballgame. Gracie's problems were always more mental than physical, so I've found some of the "Gracie is coming back to save US ladies" takes that I've seen a bit eyeroll inducing. That said, the GP is a long way off, people's have come back from horrific injuries before, and people have attested to her raw athletic ability when they've seen her skate in person.  As long as she is coming back to skate on her own terms, she'll be ok. 

Edited June 30, 2018 by BelleBrit

[SeanC]

13 hours ago, MaKaM said:

Good of her to get it out of her system early in the quad. It doesn't seem like Eteri is the type of coach who is going to push the boundaries in regards to music choice and program choreography.

Actually, I'd say the exact opposite, at least for seniors.  If you look at Evgenia's programs over the past quad, none of the music choices for her were particularly conventional, and some were exceptionally not so, most obviously the Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close soundtrack.  That was the most obvious instance of Eteri chasing the success of Julia Lipnitskaya's Schindler's List program.

[MaKaM]

I wasn't clear. I feel that most of Eteri's skaters seem to fall into the "classic/dramatic" music and the choreography into the "face grabbing as emoting" category. But I haven't been following skating closely for the last few years so really, I am basing those feelings off of the recent Olympic season. Disregard my opinion if it doesn't hold up to previous seasons.

[SeanC]

And in news that will top Gracie Gold by some way as the most unexpected comeback, Daisuke Takahashi has announced he is returning to competitive skating (at age 32!).

[annzeepark914]

Daisuke returning, really?  Has he had all his injuries fixed/treated/cured?  Well, if Carolina can keep going, maybe Daisuke can too. I'd be happy with him doing no quads or just one quad, just to see pure figure skating in competition once again: sport and artistry beautifully combined.

[surreysmum]

I fear Takahashi will pick up Patrick Chan's spot as the beautiful skater with amazing PCS who can't keep up with the quadsters. However, at 32, he's a grown up and able to decide whether he's going to be at all worried by that. I think it'll be good for Hanyu to have a team-mate who can keep him honest on the choreography/interpretation/skating skills side of things, at least. That's assuming Takahashi can make it out of Japan, which is not at all a given, considering the kind of young talent the Japanese men's program has been turning out over the last 10-15 years. Personally I'm very glad to see him back and hope we'll have some more stellar skates from him to look back upon.

[SeanC]

In other news, Maia Shibutani attended a women's leadership function recently and made comments indicating that she and Alex are aiming for 2022.  Many were wondering if they would end up coming back from their sabbatical, but at least for now that's apparently on their mind.

Between the three senior teams that went to the Olympics, Hawayek/Baker, the Parsons siblings, and the newly senior Carreira/Ponomarenko, it feels to me like US ice dance is going to reach a point within the next couple of years where either some people at the top are going to be nudged aside or some people near the bottom are going to quit in frustration.

[HartofDixie]

2 hours ago, SeanC said:

In other news, Maia Shibutani attended a women's leadership function recently and made comments indicating that she and Alex are aiming for 2022.  Many were wondering if they would end up coming back from their sabbatical, but at least for now that's apparently on their mind.

Between the three senior teams that went to the Olympics, Hawayek/Baker, the Parsons siblings, and the newly senior Carreira/Ponomarenko, it feels to me like US ice dance is going to reach a point within the next couple of years where either some people at the top are going to be nudged aside or some people near the bottom are going to quit in frustration.

I wonder if they are keeping that door open in case things don’t pan out with their post Olympic opportunities but they would have to come back sooner rather than later.

[annzeepark914]

Is anyone home?  Gosh, I miss competitive skating.  So, I went to Dick Button's blog or twitter account or whatever it is, and found two lovely quotes made while he was watching the Olympics a few months ago.  "Truly dislike gushy crying finishes...what is this?"  and "Hey, Nathan Chen--Beyonce fell off the stage at a concert and got right back up; so can you".  Wish I could've watched the O's with Dick.  He also made comments about flailing arms (drives me crazy too).  I find that Dick and I think alike while watching figure skating.

[ChicksDigScars]

On 7/2/2018 at 8:55 PM, SeanC said:

In other news, Maia Shibutani attended a women's leadership function recently and made comments indicating that she and Alex are aiming for 2022.  Many were wondering if they would end up coming back from their sabbatical, but at least for now that's apparently on their mind.

Between the three senior teams that went to the Olympics, Hawayek/Baker, the Parsons siblings, and the newly senior Carreira/Ponomarenko, it feels to me like US ice dance is going to reach a point within the next couple of years where either some people at the top are going to be nudged aside or some people near the bottom are going to quit in frustration.

My prediction for being nudged along by the judges is Chock and Bates, despite the coaching change.  I think that Ponomarenko's pedigree makes him a nice story, and people seem to like Hawayek and Baker. 

[Enero]

Rumor has it Boyang won’t be going to TCC after all:

 Boyang’s Tranfer to TCC Cancelled

Its not confirmed of course, but some are starting to believe this rumor because we’re now in mid July and still no sign of him at TCC. Also, it was mentioned elsewhere that he was seen training in China and it was said he’d be at that specific rink for another month. August would be extremely late to move to a new country and get training started for the new season with a new coach  

Its also being speculated that Boyang never wanted to go to TCC in the first place and that the move was the Federation’s decision. Hence the delay or perhaps cancellation of his arrival.

So the roller coaster continues in the off season. We’ll find out soon enough I guess if this move fell through or if it’s still on.

[HartofDixie]

On 7/10/2018 at 9:59 PM, annzeepark914 said:

Is anyone home?  Gosh, I miss competitive skating.  So, I went to Dick Button's blog or twitter account or whatever it is, and found two lovely quotes made while he was watching the Olympics a few months ago.  "Truly dislike gushy crying finishes...what is this?"  and "Hey, Nathan Chen--Beyonce fell off the stage at a concert and got right back up; so can you".  Wish I could've watched the O's with Dick.  He also made comments about flailing arms (drives me crazy too).  I find that Dick and I think alike while watching figure skating.

The Skating Lesson has been making videos during the post season if you need a fix.

On 7/11/2018 at 12:17 PM, ChicksDigScars said:

My prediction for being nudged along by the judges is Chock and Bates, despite the coaching change.  I think that Ponomarenko's pedigree makes him a nice story, and people seem to like Hawayek and Baker. 

I think the Parsons will get nudged out.  I don't think they'll want another sibling pair.

[annzeepark914]

@HartofDixie: Thanks for the reminder (TSL)!  Re: the Parsons getting nudged out--why are sibling pairs encouraged in the first place?  I'd think that coaches/instructors would try to find a non relative as a partner for these skaters who are interested in ice dance or pairs skating. I've always loved the Shibutanis skating style but also wondered how each would've done w/o a sibling as partner.

[MaKaM]

1 hour ago, annzeepark914 said:

@HartofDixie: Thanks for the reminder (TSL)!  Re: the Parsons getting nudged out--why are sibling pairs encouraged in the first place?  I'd think that coaches/instructors would try to find a non relative as a partner for these skaters who are interested in ice dance or pairs skating. I've always loved the Shibutanis skating style but also wondered how each would've done w/o a sibling as partner.

Because it is easier to know they'll likely be together 10+ years later when you finally start getting good. They won't break up as partners because they broke up romantically or because they had a big fight. See: the merry-go-round that is US Pairs.

[SeanC]

8 hours ago, annzeepark914 said:

@HartofDixie: Thanks for the reminder (TSL)!  Re: the Parsons getting nudged out--why are sibling pairs encouraged in the first place?  I'd think that coaches/instructors would try to find a non relative as a partner for these skaters who are interested in ice dance or pairs skating. I've always loved the Shibutanis skating style but also wondered how each would've done w/o a sibling as partner.

Brother-sister pairs teams have never faced the same uphill battle that brother-sister dance teams have, probably because there are particularly strong connotations to dancing together.

[legaleagle53]

14 hours ago, MaKaM said:

Because it is easier to know they'll likely be together 10+ years later when you finally start getting good. They won't break up as partners because they broke up romantically or because they had a big fight. See: the merry-go-round that is US Pairs.

And the soap opera that has always been Russian pairs/ice dancing.

[Enero]

Denis Ten Dies at 25

This is terrible and sad. May he Rest In Peace. 

[EVS]

That is so tragic. 

[HartofDixie]

43 minutes ago, Enero said:

Denis Ten Dies at 25

This is terrible and sad. May he Rest In Peace. 

OMG!

[MostlyC]

That is shocking.  And so sad.  

[Jeddah]

This is such sad news. I didn’t want to believe it when I saw the news.

[Maelstrom]

That is horrible, tragic news. And somehow all of the photos of him smiling so happily with his bronze medal in Sochi just makes it that much more heartbreaking.

[Good Queen Jane]

The worse thing is that the stabbing was over a car mirror. A car mirror! So senseless.

[catray]

I just saw the news about Denis Ten on twitter and I'm in shock! So tragic and heartbreaking.

[wintrygal]

So very sad and shocking..terrible waste of life.

[andromeda331]

That's so awful!

[Growsonwalls]

I first saw the news when I went to Aljona Savchenko's instagram this morning. Didn't believe it. It has been an emotional day in the figure skating world. Many figure skaters past and present have posted tributes, with almost all of them expressing total shock. It's such a senseless tragedy.

Alex Shibutani has posted a twitter thread with remembrances of Denis:

A visibly shaken Alexei Yagudin posted this video:

Edited July 19, 2018 by Growsonwalls

[Avaleigh]

8 hours ago, Jeddah said:

This is such sad news. I didn’t want to believe it when I saw the news.

I was honestly in denial earlier while I was at work. My boyfriend sent me a text and my reaction was 'Wait, what??!!' It sounded so random and crazy that I was hoping it was some awful hoax or internet prank. When I got a chance to sit down and read more and see the comments from other skaters, I teared up.

I feel so devastated for his family and friends. The figure skating community is very small so when something like this happens you always remember where you were and who told you. 

25 years old. It's so sad and wrong, I can't even. 

6 hours ago, Good Queen Jane said:

The worse thing is that the stabbing was over a car mirror. A car mirror! So senseless.

I'm not being flippant or joking--I had no idea that stealing car mirrors was even a thing. I can't believe that someone's life was taken over this. Every person I've shared the news with has had the same 'Wait, what?!' initial reaction. 

My favorite program of Denis's was definitely The Lady and the Hooligan. I've always thought that he was the best in the long out of the three medalists in Sochi. I was rooting for him to leave the sport on a high note. He won't be forgotten by the fans of the sport. 

[honeywest]

Shocking. Dreadful. Twenty-five years old and killed for his car mirror. The many tributes online show how much Denis Ten’s fellow skaters appreciated him as a person and an athlete.

[Crs97]

Just heartbreaking.

[Jeddah]

12 hours ago, Avaleigh said:

My favorite program of Denis's was definitely The Lady and the Hooligan. I've always thought that he was the best in the long out of the three medalists in Sochi. I was rooting for him to leave the sport on a high note. He won't be forgotten by the fans of the sport. 

He was a bright light that day! Everyone else was a mess in the men’s free skate in Sochi.

My favorites were The Artist programs from the 2012-2013 season. I liked that he continued a theme from his short to his long. He should have won Worlds that year!

A day later I still can’t believe it. 

[Vera]

It feels really wrong that someone younger than me should die before me. 

But it's such a reminder to treat people with kindness. 

Denis is a wonderful skater and from all accounts, an even better person. He will be missed.