This week, another Challenger event took place: the Nebelhorn Trophy. However, this event was special as many teams were competing to earn the last spots for the Olympic Games. Here are the results of the ice dance event: In the end, the countries who have earned one spot for the Olympics were: Great Britain, Japan, Germany, South Korea, Czech Republic and Slovakia. Congratulations to these athletes!
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Alonside the Lombardia Trophy, the US International FS Classic took place last week.
Here are the results of the ice dance event: The 2016-2017 season might be over but figure skating fans tend to pay plenty of attention to any news in the off-season related to their favourite teams, particularly regarding music anouncements for their programs of the following season. Furthermore, excitement is quite large this year, since the Olympic Winter Games will take place next year.
So, the first thing to know is that all teams will have a Latin Short Dance, since the pattern dance chosen for this season for the senior couples is the Rhumba, to which can be added any of the following rhythms: Cha Cha, Samba, Mambo, Meringue, Salsa, Bachata and any closely related Latin American or Caribbean Rhythms. On what concerns the junior teams, the pattern dance is the Cha Cha Congelado and they can add any of the rhythms mentioned above. In this post I will be adding any news concerning anouncements that the teams may make. Music Announcements: AUSTRALIA Kimberly Hew-Low & Timothy McKernan SD: Safari J Balvin, ft. Pharrell Williams, BIA, Sky FD: Exogenesis Matilda Friend & William Badaoui FD: Love Story AZERBAIJAN Anastasia Galyeta & Avidan Brown FD: Cabaret BELARUS Adelina Zvezdova & Uladzimir Zaitsau SD: Apologize - Justin Timberlake; Perhaps Perhaps Perhaps - The Pussycat Dolls FD: Lexus (The Pursuit of Perfection) - Ralf Kempen, Mark Joggerst; Tema Celeste - Roberto Cacciapaglia Karina Sidarenka & Maksim Yalenich NEW SD: Ambientscapes; Let's get loud FD: Horchat Hai Caliptus - Ishtar; Pistolero - Juno Reactor CANADA Alicia Fabbri & Claudio Pietrantonio SD: Historia de un Amor - Nana Mouskouri; Sweet Like Cola - Lou Bega FD: El Tango de Roxanne; Come What May (Moulin Rouge!, comp. Craig Armstrong) Ashlynne Stairs & Lee Royer SD: El Beso del Final - Rudy Perez, performed by Christina Aguilera; I Like It Like That - Pete Rodriguez, Tony Pabon FD: Un monstre a Paris - Sean Lennon; La Seine - Matthieu Chedid, Sean Lennon (A Monster in Paris) Carolane Soucisse & Shane Firus SD: Bailando, El perdedor, Let me be your lover - Enrique Iglesias FD: Cheek to cheek & I won't dance - Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett Cassidy McFarlane & Kameron Jeromkin SD: Sway Ellie Fisher & Simon Pierre Malette-Paquette SD: Amado Mio; Donde Estas, Yolanda - Pink Martini FD: La Strada (comp. Nino Rota) Gina Cipriano & Jake Richardso SD: Come; Makeba - Jain FD: Merry Go Round (Howl’s Moving Castle, comp. Joe Hisaichi) Haley Sales & Nikolas Wamsteeker NEW SD: Cuéntame Que Te Pasó - Rosario FD: Love Theme - Robin and Marian, comp. John Barry; Merry Men - Robin Hood, comp. Marc Streitenfeld; The Ride to Sherwood/The Ride to Nottingham - Robin and Marian, comp. John Barry Irina Galiyanova & Tommy Tang SD: Dance With Me - Debelah Morgan; La vida loca - Francisco Cespedes FD: Time in a Bottle - Sim Croce; Lost in the Forest - Shin Jae Young Jade McCue & Gabriel Clemente SD: Maria (Ricky Martin); Ole Ole Ole (Ricky Martin); I Need to Know (Marc Anthony) FD: Another Day of Sun; City of Stars (Duet); Someone in the Crowd (La La Land, comp. Justin Hurwitz) Jessica-Lee Behiel & Jackson Behiel NEW SD: Let’s Get Loud; Theme from Mahogany; On the Floor - Jennifer Lopez FD: Amarcord; 8 and 1/2; Amarcord Suite - comp. Nino Rota Jessica Li & Jacob Richmond SD: Broadway Mambo - Perez Prado; Asi Es La Vida - Clandestinos FD: Runaway; Conqueror (Aurora) Jolie Che & Paul Ayer FD: Sarabande Suite Kaitlyn Chubb & Alex Gunther SD: Whatever Happens - Michael Jackson; Sway - Michael Buble FD: True colors by Justin Timberlake and Anna Kendrick; September by Earth, Wind and Fire Kaitlyn Weaver & Andrew Poje FD: Spartacus (comp. Aram Khachaturian); choreography by Lori Nichol and Linda Garneau Katerina Kasatkin & Corey Circelli SD: Mujer Latina (Thalia) FD: Faded (Alan Walker feat. Iselin Solheim) Katrine Roy & Oliver Zhang SD: Cha Cha Cha - Mo’ Horizons; Amado Mio - Cinema Serenade Ensemble FD: Assassin’s Tango - Mr. and Mrs. Smith, comp. John Powell; Tanguera - Sexteto Mayor Keelee Gingrich & Parker Brown SD: Europa [Earth’s Cry Heaven’s Smile]; Smooth - Santana FD: The Curse - Agnes Obel; Neverland - Takenobu Leia Dozzi & Liam Fawcett SD: Addicted to You ; Don’t Stop the Party (Pitbull feat. TJR) FD: Vinegar & Salt; Amalfi (Hooverphonic) Lily Hensen & Nathan Lickers SD: Perhaps Perhaps Perhaps; Por Arriba, Por Abajo - Ricky Martin FD: Who wants to live forever - Queen; performed by The Tenors Marjorie Lajoie & Zachary Lagha SD: Bla Bla Bla Cha Cha Cha - Petty Booka; Tu Picadura - Gary Tesca FD: Dream - Imagine Dragons; Nemesis - Benjamin Clementine (x) Molly Lanaghan & Dmitre Razgulajevs SD: Samba Vocalizado - Luciano Perrone; Lo So Che Finirà - Anna Tatangelo; Johnny’s Mambo - Michael Lloyd NEW FD: Selections from Mary Poppins (comp. the Sherman Brothers) Natalie D'Alessandro & Bruce Waddell SD: I Need to Know - Marc Anthony; Let’s Get Loud - Jennifer Lopez FD: Your Song - Elton John, Bernie Taupin; Your Song (Ellie Goulding); Your Song (Moulin Rouge!, perf. Ewan McGregor); Original Arrangement/A Wonderful Love - Karl Hugo Natascha Collier & Philippe Marchand SD: India - Yan Amor; Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps - Pussycat Dolls FD: Overture; Beauty and the Beast (Beauty and the Beast, comp. Alan Menken) Nina Mizuki & Veniamins Volskis SD: Que La Detengan NEW FD: Arrietty’s Song; Sho’s Song (Arrietty, Cecile Corbel) Olivia Han & Grayson Lochhead SD: I Need to Know; Quítate Tú Pa Ponerme Yo - Marc Anthony FD: Selections from Pirates of the Caribbean (comp. Hans Zimmer) Olivia McIsaac & Elliott Graham SD: Quizás, Quizás, Quizás - Pink Martini ; Angelina - Lou Bega FD: Let It Be Me - Ray LaMontagne; What I Wouldn’t Do - Serena Ryder Ravie Cunningham & Cedar Bridgewood NEW SD: Where Do I Begin - Shirley Bassey [Away Team Remix] FD: Johanna; A Little Priest - Sweeney Todd, comp. Stephen Sondheim Sarah Arnold & Thomas Williams SD: Besame Mucho FD: Fall for You (Leela James); If I Ain’t Got You (Alicia Keys feat. Usher) Theadora Sauve & Alexandre Faucher SD: Sway - Pink Martini; Beautiful Maria of My Soul - perf. Mambo All-Stars feat. Antonio Banderas; Copacabana - perf. Copacabana Original London Cast FD: Anything Goes; But Beautiful; It Don’t Mean a Thing - perf. Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga Valerie Taillefer & Jason Chan SD: Con Mi Sombra - S-Tone Inc; Skip to the Bip [Brazil Mix] - Club Des Belugas FD: Closer Than Sisters (Penny Dreadful, comp. Abel Korzeniowski); A Boat to Argentina (Amen, comp. Armand Amar) Vanessa Chartrand & Alexander Seidel SD: Samba Pa’ Ti; Oye Como Va (Santana) FD: Lament; You Must Love Me; Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina (Evita, comp. Andrew Lloyd Webber) CZECH REPUBLIC Nicole Kuzmichova & Alexandr Sinicyn SD: Magalenha - Antonio Carlos; Fly Love - Jamie Fox; Mas Que Nada - Jorge Ben FD: Cabaret (Willkommen; Money; Mein Herr) - John Kander Natalie Taschlerova & Filip Taschler SD: Cha Charanga - El Rubio Loco; Temptation - Tom Waits; Bailar -Elvis Crespo, Erick Orrosquieta, Robert Fernandez FD: Somewhere Over the Rainbow - Harold Arlen, E.Y. Harburg; In This Shirt - Jamie McDermott, performed by The Irrepressibles FINLAND Cecilia Torn & Jussiville Partanen NEW FD: Funny Face; I've Got A Crush On You FRANCE Marie Dupayage & Thomas Nabais NEW SD: Take It Easy My Brother Charles - Jorg Ben Jor; Un Canto a mi tierra - Quantic and his Combo Barbaro; Real in Rio - Real Copa FD: Yesterday - Tangoloco, Daiel Garcia Quinteto; Grand Guignol - Bajo Fondo Marie Jade Lauriault & Romain Le Gac SD: "September" & "How deep is your love" FD: Another one bites the dust; You Take My Breath Away - Queen Angélique Abachkina & Louis Thauron NEW FD: Je suis malade - Lara Fabien; Mariage D'Amor - Richard Clayderman Loicia Demougeot & Théo Le Mercier SD: El Pescador by Totó La Momposina; La Collegiala by Rodolfo y su Tipica; Onda Tropica - Punkero Sonidero NEW FD: Light of the Seven by David de Miguel; Strange by Apollo G'eeze Natacha Lagouge & Corentin Rahier NEW SD: Medley - Cafe Latino; Frío Sin Ti - Navajita Plateá ft. Buika; Samba Beach - Danny Davis, Peter Weitz FD: Theme : the life of Coco Chanel [Little Black Baby - Scott Joplin (ragtime); Tango A Meta - Fabrizio Biondi; Tema per una donna sola by Ennio Morricone; Casino de Deauville - Alexandre Desplat; Cocomotion by El Coco (disco) GERMANY Katharina Müller & Tim Dieck SD: Dibby Dibby (Samba); I am not the only one - Sam Smith (Rhumba); Campo Grande (Samba) FD: Bodyguard musical soundtrack Kavita Lorenz & Joti Polizoakis SD: Aguanile - M. Anthony (Salsa); Mil Pasos - Soha (Remix) (Rhumba); Quimbara - C. Cruz (Salsa) GREAT BRITAIN Penny Coomes & Nicholas Buckand SD: Remix of Rhumba D'Amour by Torvill and Dean, choreography by Christopher Dean FD: Battle Remembered - Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble, choreography by Christopher Dean Sasha Fear & George Waddell FD: Coldplay Medley (Sky full of stars; Fix You; Viva la vida) Emily Rose Brown & James Hernandez SD: I Wanna Dance With Somebody; One Moment in Time - Whitney Houston FD: Who Wants To Live Forever - Brian May, performed by The Tenors Lilah Fear & Lewis Gibson FD: West Side Story Leticia Marsh & Elliot Verburg NEW SD: Bones Bugalu - Gabriel Rios; Lo So Che Finra - Erik Satie, performed by Tataneglo; Ven a bailar - Bilal Haiji, performed by Jennifer Lopez FD: Moulin Rouge soundtrack [Sparking Diamonds; El Tango de Roxanne; Come What May] HONG KONG Valerie So & Marcus Yao NEW SD: Samba; Despacito - Luis Fonsi FD: Singing in the Rain; Walking on Sunshine ISRAEL Isabella Tobias & Ilia Tkachenko SD: Shape of You - Ed Sheeran ; She Will Be Loved - Rhythms del Mundo ; Fireball - Pitbull FD: Samson et Dalila-Camille Saint-Saëns ITALY Charlene Guignard & Marco Fabbri SD: Salsa; Rhumba; Samba FD: Exogenesis Symphony Part III - Muse Jasmine Tessari & Francesco Fioretti FD: La Tosca - G. Puccini JAPAN Kana Muramoto & Chris Reed SD: I like it like that - Pete Rodriguez; Mondo Bongo - Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros; Batucada - DJ dero NEW FD: Music Medley from Ryuichi Sakamoto Yuka Orihara & Kanata Mori NEW SD: Hoy Es Adios, A Gozar Timbero FD: Planetarium & Epilogue from La La Land soundtrack Rikako Fukase & Aru Tateno NEW SD: Senorita Bonita; Tequila; Que Rico Mambo Misato Komatsubara & Tim Koleto SD: Ahora Quien - Marc Anthony; Samba do Brasil (Radio Remix) - Bellini FD: Yentl soundtrack (“Where is it Written?” and “A Piece of the Sky”); Sabrina soundtrack ( John Williams’ instrumental End Credits) LATVIA Aurelija Ippolito & Malcolm Jones FD: Alex Clare - Damn Your Eyes; Cover of Tainted Love LITHUANIA Allison Reed & Saulius Ambrulevicius FD: Stairway to Heaven POLAND Natalia Kaliszek & Maksym Spodyriev SD: mix of Luis Fonsi, Prince Royce & Shakira FD: swing, quickstep and foxtrot or waltz RUSSIA Anastasia Shpilevaya & Grigory Smirnov SD: Cha Cha (Tom Jones Kiss) and samba (Dominó-Baila Baila Comigo) FD: Love Story; choreographer Irina Zhuk Anastasia Skoptsova & Kirill Aleshin SD: rhumba, Cha-cha, salsa FD: Tango (Vuelvo Al Sur, Paris, Texas – Gotan Project) Elizaveta Khudaiberdieva & Nikita Nazarov SD: cha cha; samba FD: Ghost (musical soundtrack) - Dave Stewart, Glen Ballard Eva Kuts & Dmitrii Mikhailov NEW SD: Cha Cha - Michael Jackson; Juan Magan - Mariah FD: Butterflies and Hurricanes - Muse Evgeniia Lopareva & Alexey Karpushov NEW SD: Kiss; In Style and Rhythm - Tom Jones FD: Moldavian Song - Emir Kusturica; Maki Maki - Goran Bregovic; Mesecina - Goran Bregovic Ksenia Konkina & Grigory Yakushev NEW SD: Cuentame - Caribbean Kings Band; Lick It; Samba FD: El Choclo Polina Ivanenko & Daniil Karpov NEW SD: Rhumba; Cha Cha; Samba FD: L'Immersita - Il Volo Sofia Evdokimova & Egor Bazin FD: Ave Maria Sofia Polishchuk & Alexander Vakhnov NEW SD: Chilly Cha Cha - Jessica Jay; Hip Hip Chin Chin - Club des Belugas FD: Black Swan (soundtrack) - Clint Mansell Sofia Shevchenko & Igor Eremenko SD: Let's Cha Cha - MC Mario; Happy - Max Sedgley FD: Heart Cry - Drehz ; La Boulange - Yann Tiersen Tiffany Zahorski & Jonathan Guerreiro NEW FD: Muse medley Victoria Sinitsina & Nikita Katsalapov FD: Vocalise, Piano concerto nr.2 - Rachmaninoff SOUTH KOREA Yura Min & Alexander Gamelin SD: Despacito - Luis Fonsi; My All - Mariah Carey; Mujer Latina - Thalia FD: Arirang Alone - Sohyang SPAIN Olivia Smart & Adria Diaz SD: Despacito - Luis Fonsi FD: "A Mans World" & "Natural Woman" sneak-peak Celia Robledo & Luis Fenero SD: Shakira medley (Hips Don't Lie;...) FD: The Skin I Live In; Flamenco Sara Hurtado & Kirill Khalyavin SD: Santana FD: Don Quixote (Flamenco), Choreography by Antonio Najarro SWITZERLAND Victoria Manni & Carlo Rothlisberger NEW SD: I Like It Like That; Beautiful Maria; Do You Only Wanna Dance FD: Sixteen Tons; ZZ Top's Tush UKRAINE Alexandra Nazarova & Maxim Nikitin SD: Cucurrucucú Paloma; Pink Panther Mambo (?) FD: Pirates of the caribbean soundtrack Maria Golubtsova & Kirill Belobrov NEW SD: Kaboom - Ursula 1000; Love Freedom - DJ Maksy; Hip Hip Chin Chin - DJ Maksy FD: Hallelujah - Leonard Cohen Olga Giglava & Yegor Yegorov SD: Besame Mucho - Michael Bolton; Shall We Dance - John Altman; Can I Tico Tico You - Abreu/Bega FD: Daydreams - Abel Korzeniowski; The Adjustment Bureau (soundtrack) - Audiomachine; Akkadian Empire - Audiomachine USA Alina Efimova & Alexander Petrov Somerville FD: Umbrellas of Cherbourg Allie Rose & JT Michel FD: Bonnie and Clyde theme Amanda Miller & Daniel Tsarik FD: Four Seasons Avonley Nguyen & Vadym Kolesnik SD: cha cha, rhumba, and mambo rhythms FD: West Side Story Caroline Green & Gordon Green SD: Chilled Mambo - the Mambo Molly and the 5 Alarms; Donde Esta Tu Amor - Son By Four; Music from Samba Latina soundtrack FD: Music from Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor - Alexander Borodin; Stranger in Paradise - Sarah Brightman Chloe Lewis & Logan Bye SD: Carino - Jennifer Lopez; Como Ama Una Mujer - Jennifer Lopez; On the Floor - Jennifer Lopez ft. Pitbull FD: Child of Light OST by Coeur de Pirate ("Final Breath; "Place de République" and "Metal Gleamed in Twilight") Christina Carreira & Anthony Ponomarenko SD: Quizas, Quizas, Quizas - Sarita Monitel; Perhaps Perhaps Perhaps - Pussycat Dolls; Conga - Gloria Estefan FD: Dance for Me Wallis; Abdication (from "W.E." soundtrack) - Abel Korzeniowski Claire Purnell & Lucas Purnell FD: Fiddler on the Roof Daria Popova & Cameron Colucci FD: La La Land soundtrack Eliana Gropman & Ian Somerville SD: Mas Que Suerte - Beatriz Luengo; De Hombre A Mujer - Donato & Estéfano; Samba Hey - El General FD: Zavedi Me - Hari Mata Hare; Nyah - Hector Teixeira Pereira & Hans Zimmer; No Ronees Das Conmigo - Tangos De La Reponpa - Susi Elliana Pogrebinsky & Alex Benoit SD: "Baddest Girl in Town" (Pitbull feat. Mohombi and Wisin);"Lo So Che Finera" (Anna Tatangelo); "Bailar" (Deorro feat. Elvis Crespo) FD: Desire (Rock Blues) [I Put a Spell on You (perf. Annie Lennox); original composition] Emma Gunter & Caleb Wein SD: Se Escaparon - Bombon; Huele A Peligro - Myriam Hernandez; Pasame La Botella - Banda Agua Caliente FD: I Give Up - Elija Bossenbroek; Crimson Sky - Calm Music for Studying Isabella Amoia & Luka Becker SD: Caramelo; Angel de mi corazon; Caramelo (Sugar's Dance Remix) - Olga Tanon FD: Code Name Vivaldi; Arwen's Vigil; Michael Meets Mozart - Piano Guys Jocelyn Haines & James Koszuta FD: Sinatra Medley Julia Biechler & Damien Dodge SD: Into You (Rhumba remix) - Ariana Grande; I Know You Want Me -Pitbull FD: American Woman - Lenny Kravitz; I Put a Spell On You - Joe Cocker; Seven Nation Army - The White Stripes Kaitlin Hawayek & Jean-Luc Baker SD: Get Busy - Sean Paul; Soha Mil Pasos - Isabelle & Félicien; Fireball - Pitbull FD: Liebestraum (last season's FD) Karina Manta & Joseph Johnson SD: Right Now -Pussycat Dolls; Fireball - Pitbull FD: Moulin Rouge ("One Day I'll Fly Away" and "Your Song" - perf. Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman); Choreography by Christopher Dean Katarina DelCamp & Maxwell Gart FD: Motown music ("I Feel Good" and "Try a Little Tenderness") Lorraine McNamara & Quinn Carpenter SD: Mambo Italiano - Orietta Berti; El Perdedor - Enrique Iglesias; Big Bagz - Alex Romano FD: Anime Contro Vento by Medialuna Tango Project Madison Chock & Evan Bates NEW SD: Marc Anthony medley FD: "Imagine" by John Lennon Madison Hubbell & Zachary Donohue SD: "Cuando Calienta el Sol" - Talya Ferro; "Le Serpent" - Guem; "Sambando (Los Ritmos Calientes)" (x) sneak-peak FD: Across the Sky Instrumental - Rag N' Bone Man; Caught Out In the Rain - Beth Hart sneak-peak Maia Shibutani & Alex Shibutani SD: Perez Prado FD: Coldplay: Paradise Molly Cesanek & Nikolay Usanov FD: Romeo & Juliet Nicolette Fey & Caleb Niva FD: A Thousand Years - Christina Perri Rachel Parsons & Michael Parsons NEW SD: Mambo Molly - Mambo Molly; Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime - Zuchero FD: La Partida - Victor Jara; Sikuridadas & Quiaquenpita - Inti-Illimani[South American music, based on the contemporary ballet “Ghost Dances”] Sophia Elder & Christopher Elder FD: Alice in Wonderland soundtrack Coaching Changes: GERMANY Kavita Lorenz and Joti Polizoakis will train with Marina Zoueva (previously coached by Igor Shpilband) ISRAEL Isabella Tobias and Ilia Tkachenko will train with Marina Zoueva, Oleg Epstein, Massimo Scali and Johnny Johns (previously coached by Igor Shpilband and Adrienne Lenda) RUSSIA Tiffany Zahorski and Jonathan Guerreiro will train with Elena Kustarova and Svetlana Alekseeva (they were previously coached by Alexander Zhulin) Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov will train with Alexander Zhulin (they were previously coached by Elena Chaikovskaia, Marina Zueva and Massimo Scali. Splits/Retirements: CANADA Elysia-Marie Campbell & Philippe Granger Sabrina Bédard & George Waddell Priya Ramesh & Brandon Labelle Mira Samoisette & Dominic Barthe Yohanna Broker & Matthew Korkoian Alexa Linden & Addison Voldeng (x) JAPAN Emi Hirai & Marien de la Asuncion (x) KOREA Lee Ho-jung & Richard Kang-in-Kam (x) LITHUANIA Taylor Tran & Saulius Ambrulevicius (x) RUSSIA Elena Ilinykh & Ruslan Zhiganshin (x) USA Anastasia Cannuscio & Colin McManus (x) Danielle Thomas & Daniel Eaton Charlotte Maxwell & Ryan Devereaux (x) New Partnerships: AUSTRALIA Chantelle Kerry & Andrew Dodds (x) CANADA Molly Lanaghan & Dmitre Razgulajevs (x) Olivia McIsaac & Elliott Graham (x) Ellie Fisher & Simon Pierre Mallet Paquette (x) GEORGIA (?) Diana Davis & Fedor Varlamov (x) GREAT BRITAIN Sasha Fear & George Waddell Eleanor Hirst & Adam Miller (x) Tish Marsh & Elliot Verburg (x) LITHUANIA Allison Reed & Saulius Ambrulevicius MEXICO Megumi Tsutsumi & Devin Dickey RUSSIA Alisa Lozko & Adian Pitkeev (x) Elena Ilinykh & Anton Shibnev (x) USA Avonley Nguyen & Vadym Kolesnik Isabella Amoia & Luca Becker Allie Rose & JT Michel Daria Popova & Cameron Colucci Nicolette Fey & Caleb Niva Amanda Miller & Danile Tsarik Competition Schedules: Challenger Series
Maximum Scores: Junior SD: 80.20; Junior FD: 106.50; Junior Total: 186.70 (x) Senior SD: 85.30; Senior FD: 124.70; Senior Total: 210.00 (x) Other news: Spain: Olivia Smart and Kirill Khaliavin got spanish nationality South Korea: Alexander Gamelin is eligible for the Olympic Games Denmark: Help Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Nikolaj Sorensen so that they can participate at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games; UPDATE: The appeal was not successful (x) Poland: Kaliszek/Spodyriev - Injury news Russia: Stepanova/Bukin will have choreography from Tchernyshev whereas Sinitsina and Katsalapov's will be from Zhulin; Bobrova/Soloviev working with Radu Poklitaru for Free Dance Minto Summer Skate 2017: Junior SD FD / Senior SD FD Chesapeake Open Results (x) Lake Placid Results (x) Entries for the Junior Grand Prix of Brisbane (x) Entries for the Junior Grand Prix of Salzburg (x) Entries for the Junior Grand Prix of Riga (x) NEW The most important competition of the season took place in Helsinki between March 29th and April 2nd. While the podium may have ended up as most people predicted, as well as the teams present in the top ten, there was a great deal of unpredictability in how these results came about. All in all, it was quite an exciting event. Here are the results: The World Championships are right around the corner, so I decided to compile the median results that some of the most relevant teams on the field have achieved this season. Why the median and not the average? Because the median is less sensitive to outliers (either a really high or low score), being a better measure of what the couples may earn in PCS. On what concerns the short dance, no surprises occur in the top 3 teams. However, the most striking event is that Chock and Bates show up only in 7th place in PCS, with Hubbell and Donohue a point behind them. Also, Gilles and Poirier are placed below Stepanova/Bukin. This is somewhat enlightning to what may happen, since these values where obtained as the median of the most relevant competitions these teams entered (Grand Prix Events, Final, Europeans and/or Four Continents). However, since nothing is complete without the techinal component, all may change depending on the base values these teams are able to achieve. Nevertheless, a question I find relevant is what would happen is all teams achieve the same levels? Who will have the largest TES? Putting it differently, which team is receiving more GOE's by the technical pannel? For that, I came up with a simple formula: (TES-Base Value)/(Base Value). Why this and not simply looking at the amount of GOE? Well, because I would be comparing teams with different base values which may be the source of lower GOE's. Therefore, this formula is the "growth rate" that the panel of judges implements over the base value, being comparable across teams (and time, but that analysis I will save for another day). So here are the results from the median "GOE factor" that the couples achieved in the aforementioned competitions, along with the average: Here, there are surprises. The judges are giving a higher growth rate to Papadakis and Cizeron, followed by the Shibutanis and Virtue and Moir in the short dance. Moreover, Chock and Bates show up in 7th again and Hubbell/Donohue in 10th! And what to say about Gilles and Poirier in 12th... In this case, there is a somewhat relevant difference between the median and the average. Just look at Weaver and Poje, for instance. Hence, if things go smoothly, we may have the outcome of the first column. Let's look at the Free Dance statistics: On what PCS are concerned, there isn't a huge surprise. Maybe the placement of Weaver and Poje vs Chock and Bates, but that ordering is actually a plausible one to happen. What about GOE's? In the Free Dance case, it is not as surprising as in the short. However, Chock and Bates show up in 8th, which together with the sixth place in PCS may be evidence that things may not be in their favour this season. Another thing to notice is that here, Gilles and Poirier are aheah of Weaver and Poje. I am not going to take many conclusions regarding this (even though it did help me decide on my prediction of who will be in the top ten. The ordering still remains unknown. However, this may shed light on any surprising results that may take place.
In the deepest field of ice dance of a couple of years, anything can happen. And the data is showing us just that. A great competition took place at the Gangneung Ice Arena, the Olympic Arena for the Winter Games taking place next year. No surprises regarding the placement, with the outcome corresponding to what most people were expecting. Virtue and Moir got a new personal best in the free dance, as did silver medalists Maia and Alex Shibutani. Madison Chock and Evan Bates won the bronze medal.
Here are the full results: This week Four Continents are taking place in South Korea, in the rink that will hold the Olympic Winter Games next year. The dance event is a good proxy to what will happen at worlds, because, with the exception of Papadakis/Cizeron, the top teams are going to be present. Sixteen teams from six countries (US, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Australia and China) will be competing. My predictions may not turn out true as most teams could medal with the exception that the first place is Virtue and Moir’s to lose. 1st: Having won both their Grand Prix assignments (Skate Canada and NHK), the Grand Prix Final and Canadian nationals after two years without competing, Virtue and Moir have surpassed their personal bests in both programs and hold the world record in the short dance. After this successful start of the season, they are being considered the team that will win Worlds. Here they will likely get the gold medal, without much competition from the other phenomenal teams competing here. They are just in a league of their own. If they don’t lose levels, they will be going at full speed ahead to Worlds. 2nd: Now, this was a big risk, but like Cappellini and Lanotte and European Championships, Weaver and Poje did not make it to the Grand Prix Final. I am expecting them to be fully prepared and ready. Putting them ahead of Maia and Alex Shibutani or even Madison Chock and Evan Bates was risky. The reason I am doing so is because I like both their programs more than the ones of the American teams. Moreover, if there is any team that I believe has a huge potential to win, but haven’t fully delivered yet at Worlds are these two. Unlike last season, I predict the Four Continents will not be the beginning of their worst results of the season, but rather the place where they will build the momentum going into Worlds. 3rd: The bronze medal was also a risk that I am taking, but I believe Chock and Bates have the ability to be ahead of Maia and Alex Shibutani. Actually, they won the free dance at the US Nationals and, in my view, they should have won also the short and overall (I guess I am just not fond of their short; still not over the fact that they are “ruining” Frank Sinatra for me). There is not a defined hierarchy in American ice dance and I expect the placements to change. At Skate Canada, Madison and Evan did amazing and I am expecting them to come back to that level. At the Grand Prix Final they were unfortunate at the short dance and they finished below Hubbell and Donohue. Here, I believe they will redeem themselves and take the bronze from the Shibutanis. 4th: Maia and Alex will have the fourth place due to my risky predictions so far. They have not gotten a great response to their short dance internationally with the exception of the Grand Prix Final (I still think the score they got for it there was a bit questionable, but I am biased because they are not my favorite team on the scene). Also, their free dance has not, so far, made the statement of being much better than the one of Chock/Bates or even the one of Hubbell/Donohue. I am just not putting them further down (in 5th) because they have great skating skills. However, I don’t think they nailed the choice of programs this season and I think that will cost them in the remainder of it. 5th: Madison and Zach are one of my favorite teams. I find their short dance to be fun and energetic and they were the only team to nail all the levels of that dance at US Nationals and they should have gotten credit for that even though people tended to dismiss it. I think they are being underrated. And so is their absolutely lovely free dance. I am waiting for them to performed it perfectly (they were great at Trophee de France and I am hoping for a performance like that). I would have loved to place them higher but I don’t think it will happen. I am hoping them make a statement here so that judges start perceiving them as a force to be reckoned with so that they have an even better result at Worlds. Last season they did not get enough points for their amazing short dance, so I think it is about time they are rewarded for the great improvement they have been making. 6th: Piper and Paul having been improving tremendously, particularly from last season to this season. They can challenge some of the teams above and evidence of that is how close their placement was of Weaver and Poje at the Canadian Nationals and how well they performed at Skate Canada. They have new personal bests set early in the season and had enough time to polish everything. Still, this is a tough field (basically the one they are going to encounter at Worlds). I am not excluding the possibility, though, that this team is the one who can surprise everyone at this event. 7th: From this team forward, my placements were mostly based on the personal best scores the remaining teams have achieved so far. Min/Gamelin are neck and neck with Muramoto/Reed. Still, from what I remember (I watched the programs of these teams long ago), I was impressed with Min and Gamelin so I am expecting them to edge out the Japanese team in this competition, keeping in mind that they are also skating at home. 8th: Muramoto and Reed are one of the best teams present (when you exclude the ones from Canada and the US). Accordingly, I am placing them on the top 10. Comparatively to last year, I am predicting they will fall one place because of the rise of the Korean team. 9th: The best team, in my opinion, from China, Wang and Liu will get the ninth place just like the previous year. They have done well at both their Grand Prix assignments and are showing great potential. Can’t wait to see how they have improved since Cup of China. 10th: Closing the top ten, Korea’s second team Lee and Kam. I have not seen them yet but their scores from Open d’Andorra were not that bad and I guess the coaching team they work with based my decision of placing them here (yes, they are training in Montreal with Dubreuil, Lauzon and company which also coach Virtue/Moir, Hubbell/Donohue, Papadakis/Cizeron, and the list goes on and on). All in all, I think this is going to be a team that I would want to watch and that is the reason why I believe they will be tenth. The other teams present are the three Australian couples Matilda Friend/William Badaoui, Kimberley Hew-Low/Timothy McKernan and Adele Morrison/Demid Rokachev, two Chinese partnerships Hong Chen/Yan Zhao and Linshu Song/Zhuoming Sun and one Japanese team Emi Hirai/Marien de la Asuncion. The best Australian team in terms of international scores is Hew-Low/McKernan and I am really hoping they do well. However, Friend/Badaoui are the national champions, so it will also be an interesting competition to see which Australian team will be the best here. It is nice to have three Australian couples in this competition and to see that ice dance in this country is developing successfully.
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. The first week of the Grand Prix Series did not bring a surprise on what concerns the winner in ice dance: Maia and Alex Shibutani won by a large margin. Some could be surprised with the silver medal of Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue over the Russian champions Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitri Soloviev. Actually, I was expecting that because of the progression Hubbell/Donohue have been showing. Below you can find the results of Skate America: 4. Charlene Guignard/Marco Fabbri - Total of 165.44 points
5. Elena Ilinykh/Ruslan Zhiganshin - Total of 165.16 points 6. Isabella Tobias/Ilia Tkachenko - Total of 161.99 points 7. Elliana Pogrebinsky/Alex Benoit - Total of 151.76 points 8. Kana Muramoto/Chris Reed - Total of 147.37 points 9. Alisa Agafonova/Alper Ucar - Total of 146.10 points 10. Yura Min/Alexander Gamelin - Total of 141.50 points You can find the detailed results here: SD FD This week we have the first event of the senior Grand Prix: the Progressive Skate America. Here are the participants, and a little to know about them: SD: That's life from Frank Sinatra; Jay Z FD: TBA SD: Feeling Good by Nina Simone; Hip Hop Medley FD: I Wanna Dance with Somebody by Bootstrap; Can't Help Falling in Love by Ingrid Michaelson; Earned it by Bootstrap SD: Trouble by Elvis Presley FD: Sadko by Nikolai Rimski-Korsakov; The Feeling Begins by Peter Gabriel SD: Mercy On Me by Christina Aguilera; Sing Sing Sing by Louis Prima FD: Prelude No. 20 by Frederic Chopin; The Four Seasons by Nigel Kennedy SD: Big Bad Love by Ray Charles, Diana Ross; Sing Sing Sing by Louis Prima FD: Slumdog Millionaire (soundtrack); Ang Laga De by Aditi Paul SD: There Are Worse Things I Could Do; Grease Lightning FD: From the "Nutcracker" by Petr I. Tchaikovski: Pas de deux; Waltz of the Flower SD: By the Weekend - Real Life; Can't Feel My Face FD: Pas de deux from "The Nutcracker" by Petr I. Tchaikovski SD: By Ray Charles - The Sun's Gonna Shine Again; I've Got a Woman; Mess Around FD: By Vincente Amigo - Poeta en el Puerto; Amor Dulce Muerte; Nada Puede Dormir; Poeta en el Viento SD: Why Don't You Do Right by Amy Irving; Straight To Number One by Touch & Go FD: Near Light by Olafur Arnalds; Beethoven's Five Secrets by The Piano Guys; Sand by Nathan Lanier SD: Your Heart is as Black as Night; I Am the Bet x Bang Bang Bang by 2NE1 & Big Bang FD: Cinema Paradiso soundtrack by Ennio Morricone (voice of Dulce Pontes) News from First PracticeFinally we had a first look at Maia and Alex Shibutani's Short Dance. Here are some clips and photos:
The mystery also applied to Elena Ilinykh and Ruslan Zhiganshin. Here are also some photos and a video:
We were also able to see Bobrova/Soloviev: |
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