Grand Prix Final? | Golden Skate

Grand Prix Final?

antmanb

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 5, 2004
Ok i'm confused...i thought the GP final this year was being held in the US (can't remember where) but the Events folder here on GS forums says its in Tokyo.

Has there been a change of venue or am i mis-remembering?

Ant
 

Sylvia

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 25, 2003
You probably confused GPF with 4 Continents, which will be held in CO Springs before the Torino Olympics.
 

JonnyCoop

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 28, 2003
Which would make sense because I believe the GPF was held in CO Springs last year. Or sometime in the last couple of years. (I really wish they wouldn't hold it there if they're going to make them do 2 programs in one day, which they often do. All that gasping for air at that altitude does not especially add to the overall artistic vision of one's program.)
 

sk8m8

Final Flight
Joined
Jul 28, 2003
I thought the GPF had gone to a "Short-Long Program" format to encourage more participation from top skaters. I know I wouldn't want to have to work on an new program ( or even have to work on tweaking an old one) in an Olympic year.
 

hockeyfan228

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
The format for GPF has been Short/Long for several years now.

One of the advantages of 4C's being in Colorado Springs is that Torino is at altitude, too.
 

JonnyCoop

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 28, 2003
But it's still 2 longs, tho, isn't it? If it is just one short and one long, it can't have been for that many years; I believe in 02-03 it was still a short and two longs. This kind of thing is what has annoyed me about the GPF; seems like the format seems to change or modify every season. One year they did it where they had a short and a long, then took the top 2 to battle it out for 1st, the next 2 to battle it out for 3rd, and the last 2 to battle it out for 5th. (So conceivably the finest program of the night would only be good enough for 5th). Then the two battling it out had to sit next to each other and wait for the marks to come up. Which was especially interesting when it was Yagudin vs. Plushenko.
 

hockeyfan228

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
JonnyCoop said:
But it's still 2 longs, tho, isn't it? If it is just one short and one long, it can't have been for that many years; I believe in 02-03 it was still a short and two longs. This kind of thing is what has annoyed me about the GPF; seems like the format seems to change or modify every season.
In 2004 and 2005, it has been a SP/LP format, and that is the format for 2006. They seem to have settled on the standard GP format.
 

Doggygirl

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 18, 2003
hockeyfan228 said:
In 2004 and 2005, it has been a SP/LP format, and that is the format for 2006. They seem to have settled on the standard GP format.

My recollection as well is that it's 1 SP, 1LP for singles and pairs at the GPF, and also CD, OD and FD for dance.

DG
 

ATW27

On the Ice
Joined
Aug 16, 2003
Doggygirl said:
My recollection as well is that it's 1 SP, 1LP for singles and pairs at the GPF, and also CD, OD and FD for dance.

DG

Actually, The GPF is the one international compeition where they ice dancers do not have to do a compulsory dance, for better or for worse; it's been like that since they changed the format to the 1 short program and 2 free programs back in 2000. When they changed it back to 1 short and 1 free in 2003, they did not reinstate the compulsory dance. Maybe the ISU though it would be a little unfair that the dances still had to go through 3 phases, where as pairs and singles only had 2. Or maybe they just could not figure out how to fit it into the schedule. Who knows.

Andy
 

Doggygirl

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 18, 2003
ATW27 said:
Actually, The GPF is the one international compeition where they ice dancers do not have to do a compulsory dance, for better or for worse; it's been like that since they changed the format to the 1 short program and 2 free programs back in 2000. When they changed it back to 1 short and 1 free in 2003, they did not reinstate the compulsory dance. Maybe the ISU though it would be a little unfair that the dances still had to go through 3 phases, where as pairs and singles only had 2. Or maybe they just could not figure out how to fit it into the schedule. Who knows.

Andy

Thanks Andy. As you can probably tell, Dance isn't my thing. And of course they rarely televise the CD's. Thanks for posting that - I will pay closer attention to that in the GPF this year!

DG
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
I think the two top skaters did another LP to determine the winner. At least that's what I saw in one GPF when Michelle skated to the Miraculous Mandarin. I'm not sure if the Men had to do that too. What year was that?

Joe
 

JonnyCoop

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 28, 2003
Joesitz said:
I think the two top skaters did another LP to determine the winner. At least that's what I saw in one GPF when Michelle skated to the Miraculous Mandarin. I'm not sure if the Men had to do that too. What year was that?

Joe


I believe that was the 00-01 GPF, because in my media guide from the 2001 Worlds, Michelle's free is listed as "Song of the Black Swan by Villa Lobos OR Miraculous Mandarin by Bartok" and I remember thinking oh, God, I hope she doesn't do MM because I didn't like it at the GPF. And yes, the men had to skate 2 longs at the GPF that year, too.
 

thisthingcalledlove

Final Flight
Joined
Sep 24, 2003
UGH Those horrid superfinals! I remember Irina and Michelle sitting together in 2001 while waiting for the scores, and wondering, "I wonder what it would've looked like if that was Tonya and Nancy, or Kat and Debi..."

At any rate, thank goodness those superfinals are gone. I remember the year Jamie and David made it for the first time, and they'd worked on this other LP (A PLace In The Sun?) and they finished 6th after the SP and first LP, and back then, the people who participated in the superfinal were those who finished 1-4...
 

antmanb

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 5, 2004
Sylvia said:
You probably confused GPF with 4 Continents, which will be held in CO Springs before the Torino Olympics.

Ah that's exactly what i did! Thanks Sylvia!

Ant
 

chuckm

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 31, 2003
Country
United-States
The schedule is worse than ever this season. I had hoped the USFS wouldn't have the winter cheesefest because the GP schedule has a one-week hiatus in November between Cup of China and TEB, which pushes NHK to the first weekend of December.

Now the cheesefest is scheduled for the week after NHK / the week before the GPF, and the GPF is in Tokyo! And of course, the US skaters will HAVE to do the cheesefest, even if they are going to the GPF the following week. And the GPF is only 3 weeks before US Nationals.

As I understand it, Russian Nationals will be at the end of December this year. Will Irina want to do CoR, two weeks later the cheesefest in NA, then the next week the GPF in Japan, then less than two weeks later RN? Last year she was fine with her two GPs, but then she did the cheesefest and the GPF, and after all that, her illness flared up again and she wasn't the same skater at Russian Nationals and Euros.
 

Ptichka

Forum translator
Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 28, 2003
chuckm said:
As I understand it, Russian Nationals will be at the end of December this year. Will Irina want to do CoR, two weeks later the cheesefest in NA, then the next week the GPF in Japan, then less than two weeks later RN? Last year she was fine with her two GPs, but then she did the cheesefest and the GPF, and after all that, her illness flared up again and she wasn't the same skater at Russian Nationals and Euros.
My guess is that if she is to miss one of those events, it will be the Nationals - I'm sure the federation would send her anyway.
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
Chuckum - You said quite a bit there, and it leaves me to wonder if these forgetable cheesfests are worth while. The results are meaningless, imo, but they do serve a purpose of tweeking the routines of the competitors. Problem is the tweeking is not for the GPF. It's for the Olys, I would think.

I'm hoping there will not be a rash of sudden foot injuries causing cancellation of the GPF, but will heal by Nationals and definitely by the Olys.

Soon things will begin.

Joe
 

antmanb

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 5, 2004
Joesitz said:
Chuckum - You said quite a bit there, and it leaves me to wonder if these forgetable cheesfests are worth while. The results are meaningless, imo, but they do serve a purpose of tweeking the routines of the competitors. Problem is the tweeking is not for the GPF. It's for the Olys, I would think.

I'm hoping there will not be a rash of sudden foot injuries causing cancellation of the GPF, but will heal by Nationals and definitely by the Olys.

Soon things will begin.

Joe

I'd rather the top skaters "pull a sickie" for the GPF then have a splat fest at the Olympics because the skaters are burned out. The ISU should realise that the GPF is pointless and its certainly pointless to require skaters to go. It should be an optional final and that way no-one has to do anything they don't want to.

Ant
 

R.D.

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
antmanb said:
I'd rather the top skaters "pull a sickie" for the GPF then have a splat fest at the Olympics because the skaters are burned out. The ISU should realise that the GPF is pointless and its certainly pointless to require skaters to go. It should be an optional final and that way no-one has to do anything they don't want to.

Ant

Yes, but by doing that you also sort of defeat the purpose of having the final in the first place. Why not just scrap the entire GP while they're at it?
 
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