Figure_skating_watch_party

Figure skating blog. (Re)watching old ice dance competitions and also summarizing skaters' programs and career development (one skater, one week, one post)

[figure-skating-watch-party]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Chapters: 40/50 Fandom: SEAL Team (TV) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Sonny Quinn & Clay Spenser, Stella Baxter/Clay Spenser Characters: Clay Spenser, Sonny Quinn (SEAL Team TV), Jason Hayes, Ray Perry, Trent Sawyer, Brock Reynolds, Stella Baxter, Original Characters, Omar Hamza, Lisa Davis Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fix-It, Future Fic, Hurt/Comfort, Action/Adventure, Brotherhood, Friendship, Clay WILL be Bravo 1 because I said so Summary:

Will Clay be able to return to Bravo after the events of 6x01 and his serious injury? Will he want to return? It will be a journey full of hurt/comfort, friendship and adventures. [6x08 did not happen in my AU] Chapter 33: Bravo just returned from the mission in Iran and there's already another spin-up. Will they save everyone? Chapter 34: How are Sonny and Clay after the explosion? Chapter 35: The following day, after Clay returned home injured. Chapter 36: Clay is getting bored. Chapter 37: Clay, Stella and Brian visit California. Chapter 38: Clay, Stella and Brian are finally in Mendocino. Chapter 39: Dr. Wilson is examining Clay. Chapter 40: Trainig again, physical fitness tests.

[ohtheseskaters]

[illyria-and-her-pet]

S/K have the best Midnight Blues pattern of the season, one of the best Midnight Blues patterns ever, & my favorite part of it is their execution of step 9, the RBO leg tuck. Most teams do the leg tuck by lifting their free legs very lightly, but S/K choose to do it with a lot of power instead. They showcase deep knee bend, deep edges, close holds, & matching lines accompanied by a lot of personal flair.

Vika does not have to rely on Nikita at all & has complete control of her arm & free leg. She already initiates very neat free leg movement in the RFI-Three Turn before the leg tuck, while most ladies free legs are looser until the leg tuck.

Perfect Kilian hold with no space between them made more difficult by Nikita’s head resting on Vika’s arm, deep right back outside edge, & free legs matching in perfect unison on the leg tuck.

[figure-skating-watch-party]

Podium sweeps and Russian dominance at Europeans

I know I haven’t been that active here but I’ve put together this little table about Russian dominance at Europeans. 

I started in 1992 because the Soviet Union ceased to exist in 1991. However, in 1992 the athletes competed under the title “Commonwealth of Independent States”. 

If the medalist wasn’t Russian, there is a state abbreviation in the appropriate field. 

In these 20 years it happened 8times that Russia didn’t win at least half of the medals. The poorest result was in 2007 with only 2 medals for Russia and the best in 2020 with 10 medals captured. It’s interesting to note that podium sweeps are not that common. In ice dance only one Russian podium sweep and two in men. And then of course, the numbers skyrocket: 8 sweeps in women and 9 in pairs. 

It should be also noted, that in the last twenty years, albeit the countries vary, the number of medalling countries is usually pretty small number compared to the number of countries in Europe, just moving around four to eigh, with 3 countries being the minimum (in 1998: France, Germany, Russia; in 1999: Poland, France, Russia; in 2001 and 2002: France, Italy, Russia; 2020: France, Georgia and Russia and in 2022: Latvia, Italy and Georgia) and ten different countries winning medals at Europeans as the maximum (in 2007: France, Czech Republic, Belgium, Italy, Switzerland, Finland, Germany, Russia, Poland and Bulgaria). 

[ohtheseskaters]

[ohtheseskaters]

© Denis Gladkov

[coraline-piange]

it's always Home Alone this and The Grinch that but you guys need to realize that Drei Haselnüsse für Aschenbrödel is the superior Christmas film. and I don't care if it's only available in German and Czech, if you had good taste you would have watched it regardless

[coraline-piange]

bringing this back because I'm currently watching this masterpiece. and as early Christmas gift I am giving you these stills:

look at this beauty

it's the superior Cinderella movie and the superior Christmas movie.

[ohtheseskaters]

[nathaliepechalats]

skirts of the paso doble appreciation post (at the 2015 european championships)

from top left: carolina moscheni of hungary • laurence fournier-beaudry of denmark • anna cappellini of italy • natalia kaliszek of poland • olesia karmi of finland • nelli zhiganshina of germany • sara hurtado of spain • gabriella papadakis of france • elena ilinykh of russia

[figure-skating-watch-party]

JGP Baltic Cup (Gdansk)

This time just a quick look at three men and six ice dance teams.

Mikhail Shaidorov (Vabank * Once upon a time in America) Spread eagle into 3A with a highkick. Oh yess! He has such an engaging short program, especially the step sequence is so much fun. Beautiful 4T-3T in the free! Maybe he was a bit slowish but that would be nit-picking. Very beautiful, calmer program with great jumps.

Andrey Kokura (Crack of Doom * Casanova) To be absolutely precise, I've seen him at Ukrainian test skates but I'd still stay that him and Vivien Papp are the JGP discoveries of the year for me. This is such a unique music and choreography. And I loved the camel spin. Oh my! Not only is his skating unique, he also has a unique costume - in the free. A shirt from a very light fabric with cut out part revealing another shirt and tattoos. I love it! Jumps were a bit misbehaving but what a performance.

Naoki Rossi (Rain in my black eyes * You raise me up) A European, small fed skater fighting for a podium? Count me interested. He'll be a very elegant skater.

Irina Khavronina/Dario Chirisano (Babylon Berlin * La cumparsita) They do crazy quick twizzles. The second part of blues pattern was so nice. I like the jazzy switch to the second half. And let me repeat: they are really so quick. In the free dance there's a lot of leg crossing and energetic moves. They are quick and they do have a personality. That's really important, especially for a Russian team when there's just so many teams to remember and to choose from.

Isabella Flores/Dmitry Tsarevsky (Oh what a night for dancing * Medley by Michael Jackson) I can say only this: It's a very pretty skating. They seem very sweet to each other. Oh my, that lift when she hangs behind his neck. This time it was a fall on the exit of the lift but it's cool nonetheless. The midline steps are awesome. I'd watch them skate it over and over. And in the free again: smooth, such pretty skating. Then came a fall out of nowhere (we can say fortunately, it wasn't on any element, so not that costly). It's a dynamic performance with interesting sliding moves.

Leah Neset/Artem Markelov (I'm feeling good, DJ turn it up * My immortal, In the end) They are a team I saw for the first time. It took me a moment to get into it but the second part of the RD is so cool: rotational lift, Leah skating under Artem, twizzles. They - along with Flores/Tsarevsky - are coached by Elena Dostatni. She, under her maiden name Khalyavina, was Maxim Shabalin's ice dance partner and they were silver and bronze JWC medalists and gold and silver JGPF medalists. (Yes, Maxim is still the most handsome and my prince) Oh what a nice, tender free dance, they beautifully in synch. And there's still time to get to know them better because they are very young.

Olivia Oliver/Joshua Andari (Ain't no sunshine * Stairway to heaven) Good performance in the RD, yes! Poland will need some talents so that Kaliszek/Spodyriev aren't alone there. Expressive, slow movement in the FD, they let you experience the dance at the beginning and then  the music picks up tempo in the second half.

Chaima Ben Khelifa/Everest Zhou (Golden Eye, Die Another Day * Keeping you alive) The posture! The regal way they carry themselves. I love it. Maybe they are a bit slower. But also the dance is a bit calmer and not so party/dance-y which is also good to have some more variety. There's a beautiful curve lift at the beginning of the free. And the rotational lift was also great, good twizzles, yes they are good.

Giorgia Galimberti/Matteo Libasse Mandelli (No diggity, Crazy in love, Yeah * Moonlight sonata) They had this modern touch in their last season's programs so I thought this RD would fit them and I think I wasn't wrong. Oh yess, that's their FD from the last season! They showed in only in domestic comps. It's surprising, it's fresh. Yes, of course they are not so quick and smooth, and this time they had some problems with the twizzles but it's still nice to watch the choreography.

[sashkin]

🥺🥺🥺

[figure-skating-watch-party]

JGP Košice

This time I went for a mix of pairs, ice dance and two men and two women.

Corey Circelli (Io ci saro * The Nutcracker) He is just so beautiful to watch. Unfortunately he had a fall on the 3A and then a fluke fall in the step sequence. I appreciate so much how the music and program gradually intensifies. Elegant. And he came back in the free. His skating is just so beautiful to watch. I know that it's impossible to do two disciplines on the highest level but I really miss him in ice dance with Olivia McIsac.

Georgii Reshtenko (Love is gone * Joker) Also a 3A fall and 3F fall. He was feeling really down after the SP. But overall it's such a good program and after reading supportive messages on IG he came back to fight in the FP! And fight he did. It was such a great program and he skated with so much joy (even though I don't like Joker programs too much) and he is so flexible! The opening part was amazing.

Sofia Muravieva (Ne Me quitte pas * Great Gatsby) Maybe, I've paid more attention to the song but I really liked the performance! And the FP is really interesting. (though the Russians' love for ending programs with a sound of a gunshot is ehm... concerning)

Vivien Papp (Latika's theme * 42nd Street) She's only 13 yo! So much energy and such a great performance, she's constantly in motion. And all the jumps were good. She's so expressive and open and performing for the public, both of these programs are really a great choice for her. And also, she does a cantilever.

Anastasia Mukhortova / Dmitry Evgenyev (Mouline Rouge * Strangers in the night, My way) MR programs have rights to exist up until the point when the terrible and drunk singer opens his mouth. Otherwise though, they rock. It was awesome! Death spiral level 4, I love good death spirals. Their first season together and they were amazing. They. Were. Flawless. In the FP. Absolutely amazing. Such a nice, cheerful skate.

Polina Kostiukovich / Aleksei Briukhanov (Earned it * Nature boy) I'm so happy for Polina that she has a partner and seems to be sticking with him. Unfortunately, they had a double fall after a lift exit but otherwise the program is good. The FP went better, it wasn't a flawless skate but a fairly good one.

Ksenia Akhanteva / Valerii Kolesov (Heart of glass * Romeo and Juliet) The step sequence is fire. They did a really great SP but unfortunately, Ksenia had a fall after she randomly tripped... Unfortunately, the free was very hard for them, poor Ksenia fell on both sbs jumps and a throw jump, Valerii tripped during the death spiral... Let's just not dwell on this comp too much!

Barbora Kuciánová / Lukáš Vochozka (Nemesis * Someone you loved) It's understandable that they are doing easier elements than more experienced skaters, especially the Russians. (Because I feel like especially in jr. pairs the Russian raise the expected standards insanely high.) And Barbora is only 14 yo. But it's a bit said that they received negative GOE on all or almost all elements. The music is really cool though. They did get some positive GOE in the FP and Ted Barton seemed to like them too. Of course, not everything worked out, they have also an aborted lift but let's see how they develop.

Natalie D'Alessandro / Bruce Waddell (Pulp fiction * Swan Lake) Their RD is calmer than the others, it's nice, they are hitting the levels. But it's the FD I love. Aww, the little balletic hops.

Vasilisa Kaganovskaia / Valeriy Angelopol (In the end * Ave Maria) They have a great program. The lift where she falls again to the ground at the beginning! The jump over her at the end! So many little innovative details. I'm usually meh about Team Krylova but this time, they nailed the choreography. It's no surprise young Russian skaters are usually winning but these two are so young. 15 and 17 yo and already fighting with T/S who are 18... I love this FD. Everything is so naturally connected, they have great speed. And I'm still very very confused why they got -2.0 deduction for a fall and it even influenced their step sequence score. The only explanation is the choreo slide aka Sinitsina/Katsalapov situation but honestly, there was no loss of balance?

Sofia Tyutunina / Alexander Shustitskiy (Do I wanna know * Babe I'm gonna leave you) I like them, I really don't like their program though. And I'm a bit sad because I really like Ekaterina Rubleva as a coach and choreographer. But it's very rhythmical and they have great flow and smooth skating skills. I really like their skating but can't get into either of the programs... Let's wait and see.

Kateřina Mrázková & Daniel Mrázek (Daddy cool * Flor de noche) I'm just so happy that they are happy. Undoubtedly, switching to ID has been the right decision for Daniel. They nailed it. They also train with Matteo Zanni in Egna (who coaches the Taschler) and I see a similar formula here as with the Taschlers. A disco RD and flamenco/tango FD. And it's a good formula, no complaints here. They really have a party on the ice. I just have to say I love Katerina's FD shiny shiny dress, it's quite unusual that the skirt is long, below the knees - though it also makes lifts a bit more challenging because it always somehow covers Daniel's face. This time, even before the first element, Daniel fell but then everything was perfect! They still have so much time to get fully used to ice dance and all the intricacies.

Margarita Svistunova & Dmitrii Studenikin (I feel like I'm drowning * Iduna) They feel like they are drowning and I don't feel anything about the RD. They are good, they have a good FD but I'll need a couple more comps to become a fan.

Ekaterina Rybakova & Ivan Makhnonosov (Meant, Bad Guy * Samson and Delilah) Another not that memorable RD. Though the FD is full of character and drama! And I love their lift perfectly fitting to the intensification of the music.

Angelina Kudryavtseva & Ilia Karankevich (Rube Blue * Einaudi) My babies are growing up so fast. It's an amazing performance. The streetdance/breakdance diving in the step sequence? Iconic. This is a team with one of the most contrasting RD and FD. Total streetdance badass performance and then this achingly beautiful soft FD. They do an almost upside down lift where she literally hangs with both of her legs behind his neck! How?!

[figure-skating-watch-party]

JGP Courchevel I

I think that being late in watching a figure skating event, let alone writing about it, is a constant with me so let’s get back to August! 

I watched some men, some ladies and of course ice dance. It should be noted that - probably because of high altitude - it was a challenging event for some skaters, mainly in the free program. 

Men

In men, I was the most impressed by Corey Circelli. He’s skating to Io ci saro by Andrea Bocelli in the SP and to the Nutcracker in the FP and I don’t know if there’s an even more dreamy combination of programs for me. He’s soft, elegant, great spinner, the spread eagle 3A, rippon jumps, such soothing skating. In the free it wasn’t his day, unfortunately, but he fought until the end of the program. 

I saw Ilia Malinin (Billie Jean / Nobody knows) properly for the first time here. He’s also a mature skater, completely different from Corey. His jumps in the SP were great. In the free he planned to do quads but wasn’t that successful. I liked his skating in the free program more, though. 

I liked Lucas Broussard with such a fun SP to Gin Tonic and then showing his more lyrical side with Yellow Moon in the FP. I’ll keep an eye on him. 

And now two French boys I’m especially happy for them that this JGP went well. The thing is I saw Francois Pitot first at senior French nationals in 2020 and Ian Vauclin (Fly me to the moon / ? ) maybe even a year before and the nationals ... didn’t go well for them. They were very young, competing with much stronger skaters so it’s understandable. But I’m very happy French public saw better performances now. 

Francois is so committed to the performance and I think he has a good relationship with his coach, Florent Amodio. I can even see Flo’s influence on Francois’ costumes ;) I love it that he’s skating to Rocketman in the free. He’s so into it that he almost fell in the step sequence ;)

Ladies

This time, I’ll talk very briefly about ladies because I focused on them more in my Courchevel II  post. I liked Kaiya Ruiter (Opportunity / Mulan), I hope she, Emily and Madelein will bring Canadian ladies back into the spotlight! 

Lindsay Thorngren has great jumps and I loved her Queen’s Gambit FP, with a 2A from an Ina Bauer and with a great spin at the end. 

Then there were two Korean ladies and one lady who switched from Korea to the USA fighting for the podium. Seoyeon Ji (Danse macabre / Piano concerto No 2), Ashun Yun (Smells like teen spirit / Mummy return) and Clare Seo (Rain in your black eyes / Cirque du soleil). They all had beautiful costumes and such nice skating skills. 

 Ice dance

There were twelve teams and yes, I’ll talk about all of them! At least one thing I liked about one of their dances.

Hailey Yu/Brendan Giang (River / Magical thinker)  Their complete stylization into the fairy tale ballet FP. 

Maya Benkiewicz/Nicolas Henault (No diggity / Russian sailors dance) The way they incorporated real Russian Kozachok dance into their choreography.

Daria Grimm/Michail Savitskiy (Going crazy with the blues / Sarabande) Nice, calm RD. Jazzy all the way. And their twizzles in the FP. The way they are smooth and quick at the same time. 

Miku Makita/Tayler Gunara (Leave the door open / Attack) They go full out, party on the ice!

Celina Fradji/Jean-Hannes Fourneaux (Ain’t no sunshine / Matrix) Just generally how they are getting better and mature I’ve been following them for some time. 

Hannah Lim/Ye Quan (Gangnam style/Cats) Are those my fave programs ever? No. But their choreographers are geniuses because now everybody would remember them. Also the acrobatic lift in the RD! And the paws in the FD ;)

Katarina Wolfkostin/Jeffrey Chan (MJ medley / Rain in your black eyes) They are awesome in general, especially the FD is breath-taking.

Tatjana Bunina/Ivan Kuznetsov (Imma Be/Writing on the wall) Amazing FP! The choreography is great. It matches the James Bond theme so well, there is always something going on, some action. 

Louise Bordet/Thomas Ghipoulou (California soul/Taranta) The character steps in the FD! The lifts and combo spins!

Kateřina Mrázková/Daniel Mrázek (Danny Cool/Poeta en el mar) The fire that is the FD! The power, the character steps. And a fun RD, that’s always a plus.

Vasilisa Akhramenka/Alessio Surenkov-Gultchev (Summertime / Tango) Nice sliding move and a lift while Alessio is skating backwards. 

Lika Bodnar/Artem Koval (Virtual insanity, Uptown Funk / Bedroom hymns) Great twizzles and the fact that they really enjoy their RD.

[figure-skating-watch-party]

JGP Courchevel II

This time I – very surprisingly – decided to watch some ladies for a change so that it doesn’t seem that I live in a cave and so that I can get familiar with at least some of them.

Isabeau Levito - The Swan (Saint Seans) * Russian dance from Swan Lake I saw her at the Peggy Fleming Trophy and just knew she was special. I think a lot of people experience this “skating love” at first sight. For me, it’s Isabeau. Especially her step sequences are beautiful.

Nina Pinzarrone (BEL) - I will wait for you * Frida Nina is only 14 year old! I was amazed by her impeccable stylization into Frida. The costume, the flower crown, amazing spins, good jumps. Just an awesome program.

Kaiya Ruiter - Opportunity by Sia * Mulan I think Kaiya is an example of a skater with very balanced programs. She performs quite well for the spectators and doesn’t do many mistakes.

Ginevra Lavinia Negrello - GoT * La Terre vue du ciel She is a very expressive and mature skater. When it comes to jumps, both programs were quite unfortunate but it doens’t take away from the beautiful music and very fluid moves she does.

Niina Petrokina (EST) - Je n'attendais que vous * Love of my life  Her FP program didn’t go as planned, but I loved her great skating, mature performance and also a beautiful blue costume with red roses in the free.

And now some ice dance!

Solene Mazingue & Marko Jevgeni Gaidajenko - Clint Eastwood, Beggin * To build a home You probably already know that I’m a major hater of this season’s RD but this wasn’t bad at all. There were attempts at humorous choreography?! We take it all. And then in the FD a complete change, very nice calm program, great lift with Marko holding Solene in front of himself just by the upper part of her leg.

Barbora Zelená & Jáchym Novák - Seven Nation Army, Swing Baby * Rain in your black eyes, Fire on fire Awesome straight-line lift on one leg! That would be their trademark. But there were also 8 Ns on basic pattern :( and Jachym had some problems with twizzles (in RD as well as FD).  Good news is that Czech Republic has three junior ice dance teams!! And oh, what a great FD, it suits them much better, it’s much more fluid, the lift went even better.

Isabella Flores & Dmitry Tsarevski - Oh what a night for dancing * Nuvole bianche, Earth song Nice, oh wow what a rotational lift with Isabella hanging around Dmitry’s neck by her leg!, oh yessss, I’m happy it’s a “dancy” RD without streetdance vibes. And so fluid and light in the free, getting a silver medal and even winning the RD portion. What a debut! It’s interesting that they debuted quite late (in JGP terms) because they are both 18 yo.

Noemi Maria Tali & Stefano Frasca - Love is a lie * Always remember us this way I liked their FD, it was more lyrical with a nice spin at the beginning, it’s really soothing… And what an interesting curve lift with her “flying” under Stefano who is in a sitting position.

Oona Brown & Gage Brown - How ya like me now * Muse medley So quick, wiiiild, I liked it. But they were awarded only one yes on the blues pattern and the first half was deemed to be only basic?! That’s quite surprising, but it’s the beginning of the season. Good powerful skating in the free dance!

Eva Bernard & Tom Jochum - Black Swamp village * Kaleidoscope They are part of the Villard-de-Lans skating school and one of the many talented French junior ice dancers. This school produces some quite unconventional programs and I love it! Great blues, very defined finished moves. It’s a really enjoyable and crazy RD! And OMG the FD it’s like a mix of African woodoo and Indian tones it’s awesome. They are in synch, admittedly the music may be weird but they thrive! It was awesome. Such detailed choreography.

[figure-skating-watch-party]

I don’t know if anyone is interested but come and fangirl or scream (nicely) with me about ice dance or figure skating in the ask box! 

[figure-skating-watch-party]

Quebec summer championships

In August, there was Quebec summer championships in figure skating (you can watch it here) and here are some highlights:

Gabby Daleman! That’s it. That’s the highlight. The music of both programs suits her so well - Libretango and Samson and Delilah. She won the comp by over 30 points, whereas she led only by three points after the short. 

In pairs, it was the first outing of James/Radford. They appeared only in the short. And you know what? They do look good. I’m not a fan of painting the skills of skaters - I may not like - in bad light and intentionally diminishing their accomplishments. So, I’m saying they do look good I’m just not sure I want to see them, especially at the Olympics...

In junior ice dance, we had two parties on the ice in the rhythm dance, I love it when skaters go full out. It was Jordyn Lewis/Noah McMillan skating to Perm and Grace Pale/Kieran MacDonald skating to Le freak. If anyone is missing Too darn hot from last season, be advised that it’s possible to skate even blues to it as proved by Jamie Fournier and Anthony Haddad. 

Of course, the most memorable performance in juniors is without question Hannah Lim/Ye Quan skating to Gangnam style. It’s totally not my cup of tea but objectively it’s a great choice by the choreographers, especially in the Olympic season. But honestly, I loved much more their FD to Cats. The cat moves at the beginning! The speed! Such a mature performance. And the lift when Hannah hooks up her leg behind Ye’s neck!

And we have two amazing FDs to Oblivion! I love love love it. You know the traditional way, rose in the hair, matador moves... Just watch Eliane Foroglou-Gadoury/Felix Desmarais and Jordyn Lewis/Noah McMillan. 

Of course, I was the most interested in senior ice dance... (I mean FD)

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I’m no fan of this season’s RD. In fact, I can’t stand it and probably won’t watch it much this season because it’s no fun for me to watch it, I know nothing about street dance, about hip hop, about modern music and I don’t even feel any desire to get to know something about it. And it’s certainly no fun to read about my complaints so... 

I think that the example of that kind of typical choreo we’ll get in RD this season is Holly Harris/Jason Chan - Can’t get out of my head. It’s not that modern, there are attempts at appearing modern and it’s fulfilling all the requirements...

Out of the lesser-known skaters I liked Maia Ianneta/Liam Carr skating their FD to Clair de Lune. And also Torri Hollstein/Joshua Burger with their FD to Never enough. It was so nice, calming and with great lifts. 

There is a team from New Zealand! Charlotte Lafond-Fournier/Richard Kam. Their RD to Stay with me is a bit softer than the others, it’s quite nice with an interesting lift. And I loved their FD to Seven nation army so much. They even have military-like costumes! The marching, saluting! Even fighting in the step sequence! 

I believe there’s a conspiracy going on. I’ve never cared much about Tina Garabedian/Simon Proulx-Senecal but their RD to Respect is quite nice and they skate their FD to Autumn leaves and Luck be a lady. I mean Autumn leaves sung in French by Andrea Bocelli is one of my absolutely favourite songs (here it’s Sinatra’s version but anyway) and my favourite program by my favourite skater - which is obviously Javi - is Guys and Dolls.  So, I simply have to be a fan ;) They look really ready for Nebelhorn to fight for the Olympic spot in a month. 

What is quite interesting is that Alicia Fabbri/Paul Ayer skate their RD to the same music as Hurtado/Khaliavin. I do think H/K are more “contemporary” but this was also good. However, what is amazing is their Frida FD! Omg, Paul has half of Frida’s face on his shirt. And what a rotational lift. Alicia just hangs on Paul’s neck with her leg. This is flamenco on the ice. 

And finally, finally after more than a year my favourites Marie-Jade Lauriault/Romain Le Gac on the ice, now representing Canada. My notes say: “I love them, I love them even in this hell of a dance.” Ehm.... yeah that’s all I have to say about my feelings towards them and towards the RD (Downtown). Great twizzels and so much flow in the FD to Some nights. Much more than in the past. 

[figure-skating-watch-party]

Czech test skates

The video of the whole first day of Czech test skates was immediately blocked on Youtube which means I haven’t seen a single SP or RD... But I’ve seen all FPs and FDs I wanted! 

Senior men

Matyáš Bělohradský - The greatest showman He’s returning on the ice after almost a year, he attempted a 3A and his goal is to try to reach the TES minimum for Worlds this season, so all things considered we can’t want more right now. He showed what he could and I have to say he had some energy left until the end. Though I don’t like The greatest showman, the choreo and step sequences were, in fact, a lot of fun. 

There were only two participants, Michal Březina, quite understandably, skipped this as he lives in the US. So... everybody was expecting to see Jiří Bělohradský... and instead here is...

Leonid Sviridenko - Elena & Lila by Max Richter He’s considering switching to the Czech Republic, so he skated here... He showed 4S, 4T (with a fall) but also some doubled jumps... 

What is even more surprising than a Russian skater wanting to switch countries is Jiří Bělohradský wanting to switch disciplines. He’s apparently switching to pairs and looking for a partner. I can’t find any post by him himself but as per Twitter accounts and ice partner search it’s true. 

Junior men

There were also two participants. I can assure you that Damian Malczyk is still a Javi fanboy and skated his SP to Black Betty. In the FP he skates to Unstoppables and this program could work. There are nice moments in the choreography where he can interact with the spectators, there’s an interesting entry into the spin, this time unfortunately, there were too many doubles in the jumps. 

It was Georgi Reshtenko who stole the whole show and got the highest score among men, junior and senior. He’s still skating to Joker and he went all out. 4T (fall), beautiful 3A, 4T2T... It was a great skate!

Ladies

I didn’t watch juniors and watched two out of three senior ladies. 

Eliška Březinová was, a bit surprisingly, second after the short, she skated the FP to Circles inspired by Einaudi, choreographed by Benoit Richaud. This program really screams loudly Benoit Richaud. If I had to describe his choreographies with one word it would be “round”. A lot of weird bent “round” moves... (Idk I think Misha Ge is so far not that versatile choreographer but you wouldn’t recognize that a program was choreographed by him in the first five seconds as you do here.) I get it, skaters want something new, Benoit is modern, but in fact the field of choreography where he moves is so narrow (and than he does a masterpiece like Matrix for Kaori or a good program like Peaky Blinders for Gabriele Frangipani). I don’t think the music does Eliška justice, it’s weird, but also it wasn’t the best performance. She was studying for her final exams at university, got a master’s degree, so she didn’t have that much time for training... But the most important thing is that she is excited about the program and cooperation with Benoit Richaud. 

Nikola Rychtaříková - Final contest I was so happy for her, it was a good skate. Quite nice jumps, beautiful spiral, a cartwheel, great entry into the sit spin (she enters from this “heroic” almost- slide). I really really liked that. 

Ice dance

In juniors, Denisa Cimlová/Vilém Hlavsa withdrew and Kateřina Mrázková/Daniel Mrázek were already at JGP Courchevel which leaves us with one participating team: Barbora Zelená/Jáchym Novák skating to Fire on fire. It’s quite lyrical, they looked good except for a twizzle mishap. 

Natálie Taschlerová/Filip Taschler - Yuyo verde, Invierno porteno Sadly I didn’t see their new RD... They recycled their FD which is very understandable - Filip is coming back after a knee injury so they didn’t have the time for training new choreography, they almost didn’t show the FD internationally last season (didn’t advance into FD at Worlds) and especially they need to be ready in a month for Nebelhorn Trophy trying to qualify for the Olympics. So any experimenting wouldn’t be that wise. I love them, they are awesome, so smooth, wonderfully in synch, have great twizzles and I think their approach is “a lot of energetic skating” but here it wasn’t just pure energy and power they were also so light. 

Pairs

Martin Bidař/Elizaveta Zhuk were not participating but look, there is a junior pair? Barbora Kuciánová/Filip Vochozka skating to Someone you love. It was great! They really skated and performed to the music, which I think in pairs is often not the case because the skaters concentrate so much on the difficult elements. Interesting is that twist is their fourth element, at first they did the sbs jumps to get them out of the way (2A + 2T, 2T fall), good landings on throw jumps, one great lift, one not so great lift. I saw them for the first time and I love them already!