The Grand Prix Final took place in Marseille, France, between the 8th and 11th of December, marking the end of the first half of the season. Relevant names like Weaver/Poje and Cappellini/Lanotte did not make the top six, so making it was already a huge accomplishment for couples like Hubbell/Donohue and Bobrova/Soloviev. However, everyone was in it to get the best placement possible, building momentum for the upcoming competitions.
Predictions ranged from Canadians Tessa Virtue/Scott Moir and French Gabriella Papadakis/Guillaume Cizeron for the gold, with the two American teams of Maia Shibutani/Alex Shibutani and Madison Chock/Evan Bates to be capable of challenging these two teams if they faltered. The results were the following:
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Between the 25th and 27th of November, the last event of the Grand Prix Series, the NHK Trophy, took place in Sapporo, Japan. This was a highly anticipated event by ice dance fans, as it would be the first time the World Champions Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron, of France, would face the reigning Olympic Silver Medalists Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, of Canada. The outcome of this competition will likely shape the rest of the season, so much attention had been given to it. Furthermore, Anna Cappellini and Luca Lanotte, of Italy, the 2014 World Champions, were present to try and shake things up. The final outcome was the following: 4. Kaitlin Hawayek/Jean-Luc Baker (USA) – Total of 169.75 points
5. Victoria Sinitsina/Nikita Katsalapov (Russia) – Total of 169.62 points 6. Marie-Jade Lauriault/Romain Le Gac (France) – Total of 149.99 points 7. Natalia Kaliszek/Maksym Spodyriev (Poland) – Total of 147.93 points 8. Anastasia Cannuscio/Colin McManus (USA) – Total of 139.47 points 9. Emi Hirai/Marien De La Asuncion (Japan) – Total of 120.35 points Kana Muramoto and Chris Reed (Japan) withdrew from the competition. In the penultimate event of the Grand Prix Series, the couples taking place in the Final are beginning to secure their spots. In this competition, two teams were looking to do so: Canadians Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje and Americans Maia Shibutani and Alex Shibutani. Weaver and Poje needed a first place finish (due to their third place at Rostelecom), which provided an interesting competition among the top two teams here. On the other hand, there was the debut of Sinitsina/Katsalapov of Russia, who certainly wanted to outshine fellow Russians Stepanova/Bukin and, possibly, have great performance to have a shot at being in the final. The final results were the following: 4. Victoria Sinitsina/Nikita Katsalapov (Russia) – Total of 171.94 points
5. Natalia Kaliszek/Maksym Spodyriev (Poland) – Total of 150.78 points 6. Shiyue Wang/Xinyu Liu (China) – Total of 149.8 points 7. Anastasia Cannuscio/Colin McManus (USA) – Total of 141.17 points 8. Linshu Song/Zhuoming Sun (China) – Total of 130.9 points 9. Hong Chen/Yan Zhao (China) – Total of 117.32 points Alexandra Paul and Mitchell Islam (Canada) withdrew before the beginning of the short dance. The Trophée de France took place between the 11th and 13th of November. In the ladies event, there was no surprise: Evgenia Medvedeva kept her consistency and won the event. I am going to let you just watch the programs, but you can check my comments on them in the highlights of Skate Canada.
Another lady coming from the junior ranks was Wakaba Higuchi, from Japan. She won the bronze medal here due to a great free program. She rallied back from a less successful short to a more consistent free. My favourite program is her short but the free is also quite good. Can’t wait to see how she will do this season.
Lastly, an honorable mention to a lady of the organizing country: Laurine Lecavelier. She had the 4th best short program and gave France a shot at a medal. She is setting herself to be the first French lady this year, after being behind Mae Berenice Meite. I really enjoyed her short program so I leave it here for you. In pairs, Savchenko and Massot went away with gold and the two best programs of the event score-wise. After competing in Rostelecom the previous week, they kept their riskier elements: the throw triple axel in both the short and free, despite ending up succeeding in doing a throw triple salchow instead of a quadruple.
In men, Javier Fernandez was the golden medalist. The programs were not clean but were enough for him. After competing in Russia last week, I liked the short much better now and kept my good impression on the free.
The second best short program was delivered by Nathan Chen. He has a great technical ability for jumps but the quality of the PCS is not quite there yet. If you are following the order of performances here, you will understand, because after watching Adam Rippon’s free, you say that Chen has the jumps but the performance is somewhat missing. He is still quite new to the senior scene, so it is an area he will certainly be working on. He is a great contender for the best placement of the podium if any of his direct competitors fail to deliver the technique, but I am afraid PCS-wise is not quite there yet. Finally, the silver went to Denis Ten, mainly out of consistency among both its programs: he had the third best in both performances. He seems to be getting back to his old form, delivering two good programs. I am waiting to see what he will be able to do this season.
Between the 10th and 13th of November, all eyes were in France for the Trophee de France. In this event, the reigning European and World Champions Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron were performing their programs internationally for the first time (they competed at the French Masters but due to the low quality of the videos that surfaced after the competition, I am considering this to be the first time most people are going to see them). While they were expected to win the gold, the podium was not fully predetermined at the start, with three other teams aiming at achieving the best place possible: Canadians Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier (that after a great performance at Skate Canada, were expected to win silver), Americans Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue and Russians Elena Ilinykh and Ruslan Zhiganshin. Here is the outcome of the competition: 4. Elena Ilinykh/Ruslan Zhiganshin (Russia) – Total of 167.4 points
5. Isabella Tobias/Ilia Tkachenko (Israel) – Total of 158.86 points 6. Marie-Jade Lauriault/Romain Le Gac (France) – Total of 150.07 points 7. Alexandra Nazarova/Maxim Nikitin (Ukraine) – Total of 145.39 points 8. Cortney Mansour/Michal Ceska (Czech Republic) – Total of 140.92 points 9. Lorenza Alessandrini/Pierre Souquet (France) – Total of 130.12 points 10. Viktoria Kavaliova/Yurii Bieliaiev (Belarus) – Total of 115.04 points Following the Grand Prix event in Canada came the one in Russia: Rostelecom Cup. I am going to start with what turned out to be, for me, a surprise: Russian pair skaters Natalia Zabiiako and Alexander Enbert. Since I had never seen them before and they were a new pair, I wasn’t expecting the way they delivered their programs. In fact, they were first after the short program, and ended second overall after a second place finish in the free program. Their short program was beautiful. Most elements were really well executed (the opening triple twist is something they can still upgrade in quality). This performance sure showed that everyone will have to keep an eye on them in this and further seasons. The free program was quite different from the short. While I liked the short more (I think it suited them more), this was also a really well executed program. The jumps were the clear highlight, particularly the opening combination and the throws. And her dress is stunning.
The gold in pairs went to Aliona Savchenko and Bruno Massot. In a season where ice dancers are mostly skating to hip hop instead of swing, Savchenko and Massot chose a swing and I absolutely loved it. It is a really entertaining program. The triple twist is as high as always with them. It was unfortunate that they both fell on the individual jump. And what to say about the throw triple axel, which only Duhamel and Radford had also attempted? It is a spectacular element and she held on to it. About the free program? Well, my advice is that you take some minutes and watch it. It is a program that will make you feel something. And if you think it resembles something, then yes, the music is from Patrick Watson, which was also featured in the free dance of Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron last season. They attempted the throw triple axel again (it was counted as a double, due to lack of rotation) and they also went for the throw quad salchow right at the end of the program (which, if you ask me, is quite a risk). She ended up falling, but still, they went for it. Maybe as the season progresses they will be able to land them, which could make them quite unstoppable.
Moving on to the men, the story came down to Japanese Shoma Uno who won silver and whose programs we had seen before in Skate America and the gold medalist, Spanish Javier Fernandez.
The debut of Fernandez’s programs at the Grand Prix happened here. He kept the short program from last season, which for me turned out to be underwhelming. I loved it way more last season, but maybe it is just because he is still beginning the season. However, as we had seen the program before, expectations are a bit higher than usual. He held on to the elements but Shoma Uno’s technical base value was much higher. Nothing was lost until the free was not over. And for Fernandez, it was Elvis Presley. And well, I can see what he has been training for. The focus has been this free and not the short and for now, it worked, earning him the gold. He is quite a performer and when the technique is there as well, it is fantastic. That is mainly the reason he is a two-time world champion. He just needs to be able to deliver the technical elements. I really like Elvis Presley and I believe it was a good music choice for him. This is yet another to-watch program.
Last, but not least, being in Russia surely entails that the Russian ladies were going to deliver and that is was they did, going 1-2-3 in the short and ending up with gold and silver. Let’s start with programs to highlight that were not the best but that caused everyone to talk about them. Firstly, Julia Lipnitskaia’s short program. She has been struggling and end up struggling a lot in the free but not on this program. I want to start by saying that the dress is beautiful and that brown is actually a colour that should be more used. She has matured and this program suits her so so well. The jumps were there but the spins are just absolutely spectacular. You can’t take your eyes off her. She has an incredible talent. And on the free skate, the surprise was Courtney Hicks. To the soundtrack of Maleficent, which suited her like a glove. Absolutely fantastic. This program earned her the bronze medal here. She has room for improvement, of course, but things are looking good for her.
But this event was to be about Anna Pogorilaya and Elena Radionova, with Pogorilaya succeeding over her teammate on both programs. Let’s start with Radionova. The short program was really well executed and left things open for her. She performed throughout, which is the main quality associated with this skater: her interpretation. She is struggling a little on completing her jumps lately and while she did not have such problems in this short program, she does not have the same GOE as Anna on the jumps. But performance-wise, she is one of the best Russian ladies. Her free program was more of a so-called “classic”, which she can deliver but I much rather see her in her short program that here. The dress is lovely and her interpretation was there. But here we could see her jump struggles. Nevertheless, it was a good program.
Lastly, the gold medalist, Anna Pogorilaya, seems so much more confident this season. The bronze last season her worlds seems to have done wonders for her. A tango for the short and I have to say that I really liked it. I usually don’t like her programs at all, but this was quite good. She had attitude throughout and sold the program well. The jumps were all there and that step sequence was really good. The free program was more on what she usually performs so it is not a big surprise that I did not like it very much. Regardless, consistency seems to be her motto now, because the jumps were all there and she gave the intensity to the program that it asked. A well-deserved gold medal for her. Can’t wait to see how this season will work out for her.
Last week, the Rostelecom Cup was held in Russia. On what concerned ice dance, everyone knew who was going to be on the podium. The major question was what would be the order of the top teams. After the momentum built on Skate Canada in the previous week, Chock/Bates of the United States were the favourites here. However, some mistakes prevented them from getting the gold medal. Here are the results: 4. Charlene Guignard/Marco Fabbri (Italy) - Total of 170.45 points
5. Tiffany Zahorski/Jonathan Guerreiro (Russia) - Total of 156.95 points 6. Elliana Pogrebinsky/Alex Benoit (USA) - Total of 153.92 points 7. Laurence Fournier Beaudry/Nikolaj Sorensen (Denmark) - Total of 152.52 points 8. Alisa Agafonova/Alper Ucar (Turkey) - Total of 143.90 points 9. Sofia Evdokimova/Egor Bazin (Russia) - Total of 133.37 points 10. Viktoria Kavaliova/Yurii Bieliaiev (Belarus) - Total of 129.5510 points The second Grand Prix event was Skate Canada, so here is another post concerning the main highlights (for me) of the ladies, pairs and men’s events. Firstly, the ladies event was rather interesting. Concerning the short programs, the best, for me (and that turned out the first and second best programs in terms of marks as well) were delivered by Russian Evgenia Medvedeva and Canadian Kaetlyn Osmond.
The free programs to watch were, yet again, by this two ladies and also the one performed by Japan’s Satoko Miyahara. Medvedeva’s free program this year had a quite dramatic interpretation to it. The jumps show no problems at all, with multiple jumps being performed with an arm over the head. She commits deeply to it. Is one of those programs that you will be watching from beginning to end and that will make you feel something. She is the skater to watch if you follow the ladies event. The question will always be if any lady will be able to beat her this season.
Moving on to the pairs event, world champions Meagan Duhamel & Eric Radford delivered two good programs (the best score-wise of the event) and went away with gold.
Finishing up, the men’s event. Two men stood out in this event. Firstly, the winner of the event, Canadian Patrick Chan had a remarkable short program. I will not include the video because the music is removed due to copyright, which is quite unfortunate. The program had a mistake in the triple axel (a fall), but apart from that it was a good performance.
This week Canada was the host of the second event of the Grand Prix Series. The competition was highly anticipated as Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir initiated their Grand Prix participation against Madison Chock and Evan Bates (third at 2016 worlds), Anna Cappellini and Luca Lanotte (fourth at 2016 worlds) and their compatriots Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier. In the mix was also the young russian couple Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin. The results were the following: 4. Anna Cappellini/Luca Lanotte (Italy) - Total of 180.35 points
5. Alexandra Stepanova/Ivan Bukin (Russia) - Total of 168.10 points 6. Kaitlin Hawayek/Jean-Luc Baker (USA) - Total of 162.19 points 7. Laurence Fournier Beaudry/Nikolaj Sorensen (Denmark) - Total of 156.71 points 8. Alexandra Paul/Mitchell Islam (Canada) - Total of 144.85 points 9. Shiyue Wang/Xinyu Liu (China) - Total of 144.16 points 10. Cecilia Torn/Jussiville Partanen (Finland) - Total of 139.14 points Even though this blog’s focus is on ice dance, there are three other events in figure skating that I can’t leave unnoticed. As a result, every time I consider relevant, I will be making highlights from the ladies, pairs and men events. Here is the one concerning the Progressive Skate America. First of all, let’s start with the best short program of the ladies event. Maybe most of people associate figure skating with classical music. Well, that is not always true, and Ashley Wagner proves that with this program. It is so fresh compared to all the classic tunes and she interprets it so well, which led me to give it the attention it deserves. It is true that the program was not technically perfect (the judges did see that the second jump of the opening combination was underrotated and all her spins and set sequence were given a level 3 instead of the highest, level 4), but she does draw you in the performance.
The surprise performance of this event and, for me, the one I think of when anyone mentions Skate America this season, was the free program of Mariah Bell. She won it, ending up moving from sixth to second place, edging relevant names like Mao Asada, Gracie Gold and newcomer Mai Mihara. In one word, gorgeous, and I would also add delicate. This is a program that I will certainly re-watch several times. She has tremendous potential to make the American World team if she manages to keep up this quality. Moving on to the men’s event, there is little to say about Shoma Uno. He did great and is setting himself up to be a World Medalist after his disappointing seventh place at the last Worlds. Things are looking good for that purpose. I just leave here both his short and free programs, which are a must-watch.
Last but not least, the largest surprise on what concerned the gold medalists here. Maybe it was not such a large surprise if you had watched Seguin and Bilodeau last season. However, this free program was beautiful and clean, which is really hard to accomplish in pairs, particularly if you are relatively new to the senior scene. These two are just amazing to watch and they will likely have a great future ahead of them. |
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