From the 14th to the 19th of February, the Bavarian Open took place. The favourites to the win were Italian Champions and recently crowned silver medalists at the European Championships, Anna Cappellini and Luca Lanotte. Nevertheless, the "battle" for the only spot of the Spanish team at Worlds would end here with Smart/Diaz and Robledo/Fenero trying to surpass the techical score obtained by Hurtado/Khaliavin in the short dance. Other relevant names present included Lorenz/Polizoakis from Germany and Torn/Partanen from Finland.
Happening in the same week as the Four Continents, this was the opportunity to take a look at some of the newest and most unknown European teams. Here are the results:
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Russian Junior Nationals took place between the 1st and 5th of February. After the European Championships and while people await for the Four Continents, all eyes were on Saint Petersburg particularly for the ladies event, which is always of remarkable quality in Russia. Nevertheless, ice dance was also an interesting competition especially because of the closeness of some teams that could have made the team for Junior Worlds. Here are the results of the competition: On what concerns the review of the competition, I will comment on what went down with the main teams and will highlight the couples that I really liked. I will be talking about them by the order in which they started the short dance, with the exception of the first couple which only competed the short dance. Ekaterina Andreeva / Ivan Desyatov
Yana Buga / Georgiy Pokhilyuk
Evgeniia Lopareva / Alexey Karpushov
Eva Kuts / Dmitrii Mikhailov
Sofia Shevchenko / Igor Eremenko
Daria Rumyantseva / Dmitry Ryabchenko
Sofia Polishchuk / Alexander Vakhnov
Angelina Lazareva / Maxim Prokofiev
Elizaveta Khudaberdieva / Nikita Nazarov
Anastasia Skoptsova / Kirill Aleshini
Arina Ushakova / Maxim Nekrasov
Polina Ivanenko / Daniil Karpov
Anastasia Shpilevaya / Grigory Smirnov
Alla Loboda / Pavel Drozd
Ksenia Konkina / Grigory Yakushev
Overall, this competition was quite exciting and I think the judging was better than in the senior competition (there was not a large inflation of marks). Moreover, the fact that Shpilevaya/Smirnov earned the title with strong performances may be an indication of what will happen at Junior Worlds. One thing is certain: this is a team that next year will be on the podium. Another couple standing out was Polishchuk/Vakhnov, as they were quite close at making the team for Junior Worlds. With Lodoba/Drozd moving to the senior ranks next season, this team will be given more opportunities to gain experience.
Finally, one thing than concerns figure skating fans is which teams will probably be present at the Junior Grand Prix circuit next season. Based on the results, the teams that will make it may be: Shpilevaya/Smirnov; Skoptsova/Aleshin (I think their best bet would be to move to seniors this year, just like Pogrebinsky/Benoit of the USA did last season, but I don’t think it is going to happen); Polishchuk/Vakhnov; Konkina/Yakushev; Shevchenko/Eremenko; Khudaberdieva/Nazarov and Ushakova/Nekrasov (this couple has not been showing that great results, so maybe Lopareva/Karpushov may have a chance, while I would prefer Kuts/Mikhailov). One team I would love to see would be Ivanenko/Karpov. I guess the last spot will be decided in Test Skates between them, Lopareva/Karpushov, Ushakova/Nekrasov and Kuts/Mikhailov. Moreover, Andreeva/Desyatov may also have a say, because they did well in the short dance and did not perform the free, so if they show they are reliable they may be assigned a Grand Prix. Between the 20th and 26th of December all eyes were in Russia due to nationals. In this case, however, only senior teams competed, as the junior nationals would take place from the 1st to the 5th of February. Here are the results: Right now I will be commenting on what went down. Short Dance:
Free Dance:
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 Taking place in Bratislava, Slovak Republic, the Ondrej Nepela Memorial had 13 dance teams. The most notorious ones were Americans Madison Chock/Evan Bates and Russians Ekaterina Bobrova/Dmitri Soloviev and Tiffany Zahorski/Jonathan Guerreiro. Chock and Bates obtained a silver medal in the previous week and were looking for a first-place finish here. Bobrova/Soloviev made their return to international competitions after the bronze medal in the 2016 Europeans. This competition results can be seen below: SD - Short Dance; FD - Free Dance The remaining couples placed in the following way:
6. Cortney Mansour/Michal Ceska (Czech Republic) - 143.10 points 7. Anastasia Cannuscio/Colin McManus (USA) - 138.76 points 8. Lucie Mysliveckova/Lukas Csolley (Slovakia) - 137.22 points 9. Taylor Tran/Saulius Ambrulevicius (Lithuania) - 131.34 points 10. Justyna Plutowska/Jeremie Flemin (Poland) - 124.66 points 11. Olga Jakushina/Andrey Nevskiy (Latvia) - 124.50 points 12. Mackenzie Bent/Dmitre Razgulajevs (Canada) - 121.22 points 13. Shari Koch/Christian Nuchtern (Germany) - 118.10 points This was a busy week for figure skating fans. We had the Ondrej Nepela Memorial and the Autumn Classic: two events of the Challenger series. The Autumn Classic International was held in Montreal and its main highlight was the comeback of 2010 Olympic Champions and 2014 Olympic silver medalists Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir of Canada. They teamed up with Marie-France Dubreuil and Patrice Lauzon for the road to PyeongChang 2018, which rose to fame as coaches of two-time European and World Champions Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron of France. Besides this team, eight others were present, from which stand out Americans Kaitlin Hawayek and Jean-Luc Baker, Denmark’s Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Nikolaj Sorensen and Isabella Tobias/Ilia Tkachenko of Israel. Focus was also on Marie-Jade Lauriault and Romain Le Gac of France after their eighth place at the World Junior Championships last year. For all of you following Spanish ice dance, there were two teams present: Olivia Smart/Adria Diaz and Celia Robledo/Luis Fenero. The results of this competition were the following: SD - Short Dance; FD - Free Dance Besides these teams, the remaining placed in the following manner:
6. Olivia Smart/Adria Diaz (Spain) - Total of 141.50 points 7. Carolane Soucisse/Shane Firus (Canada) - Total of 128.78 points 8. Celia Robledo/Luis Fenero (Spain) - Total of 122.88 points 9. Haley Sales/Nikolas Wamsteeker (Canada) - Total of 112.52 points This week, attentions were in Obertsdorf, Germany, where the Nebelhorn Trophy was taking place. Despite the presence of ten teams, the focus was on three: Madison Chock/Evan Bates from the United States of America, Anna Cappellini/Luca Lanotte from Italy and Piper Giller/Paul Poirier from Canada. This was the first event to have what we can call a fierce dispute over the places of the podium. Chock/Bates were the defending champions but they were going up against Cappellini/Lanotte who are the 2014 World Champions, so nothing was decided at the start, making for an interesting competition to follow. Gilles/Poirier always bring interesting programs and their eight place finish at Worlds last year made sure they were not counted off. The standings turned out to be like this: SD - Short Dance; FD - Free Dance The remaining teams placed as follows:
6. Yura Min/Alexander Gamelin (South Korea) - Total of 139.26 points 7. Lorenza Alessandrini/Pierre Souquet (France) - Total of 131.78 8. Viktoria Kavaliova/Yurii Bieliaiev (Belarus) - Total of 127.28 points 9. Katharina Muller/Tim Dieck (Germany) - Total of 125.88 points 10. Ekaterina Fedyushchenko/Lucas Kitteridge (Great Britain) - Total of 110.90 points The U.S. International Figure Skating Classic marked, at least for me, the enthusiasm of having figure skating back for another season. Of course, it had to do with the “premiere” of Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue of the United States of America. They were coming as the winners of last year’s edition and the ultimate favourites to the victory after a highly successful season, which indeed happened. Despite a not so great season for Canadians Alexandra Paul and Mitchell Islam, they could never be counted off, especially in the roster of athletes present. Nevertheless, my excitement was particularly large due to the presence of the new Spanish team Olivia Smart and Adria Diaz. Why is that? Well, being Portuguese entails that we support Spanish athletes (as we don’t have any) and I was always particularly fond of Sara Hurtado and Adria Diaz. The results of this event are here: SD - Short Dance; FD - Free Dance Perhaps the largest surprise was the silver medal of Kana Muramoto and Chris Reed of Japan. At least, I was certainly not expecting it. Also, Manta/Johnson finished well ahead of Thomas/Eaton even though last year they were behind them at US Nationals.
Besides the couples above, Yura Min/Alexander Gamelin of South Korea were 6th (134.74), Alisa Agafonova/Alper Ucar of Turkey were 7th (131.76), Danielle Thomas/Daniel Eaton from the USA were 8th (128.64), Tina Garabedian/Simon Proulx-Senecal of Armenia 9th (127.38), Cortney Mansour/Michal Ceska of Czech Republic were 10th (120.20), Mackenzie Bent/Dmitre Razgulajevs of Canada were 11th (112.10) and Katharina Muller/Tim Dieck of Germany were 12th (109.84). The season has finally started with the Lombardia Trophy. While initially Anna Cappellini and Luca Lanotte where supposed to start this competitive season at this event, that turned out not to be the case. Hence, this international event lost some of its appeal, not having highly notorious names. The attention went for Italians Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri, who were 10th at worlds last year. Here are the results of the competition: SD - Short Dance; FD - Free Dance Besides these couples, Justyna Plutowska / Jeremie Flemin from Poland were 6th with a total of 114.34 points and Mina Zdravkova / Christopher M. Davis from Bulgaria were 7th with a total of 86.10 points.
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