U.S. ice dancers and the Olympics

Arianne · Nov 16, 2005

Ok, so...if Belbin and Agosto don't get to go (still hoping!!!) who will be the three teams representing the U.S. I don't know this field as well. I am already a fan of Silverstein and O'Meara. I also liked the couple I watched at Cup of China (can't remember the names!) Anyway, who has the potential to go? This should be a really interesting competition, IMO.

Tonichelle · Nov 16, 2005

Melissa Gregory & Denis Petukhov are the reigning US Silver medalists... he is a US citizen now, and they're being lauded as the first team that will be at teh Olys

they are a great couple on and off the ice, and I cannot wait to cheer them on in St. Louis and hopefully ( really have no doubt they'll make the team) the Olympics!!!! :rock:

Arianne · Nov 16, 2005

Yes, I suppose G&P have clinched the first spot. Who do you think will get the other two spots?

nicole_l · Nov 16, 2005

I think it's going to be between S/O'M, G-R/M, and S/M to battle it out. (What, their last names are way too long!)

Arianne · Nov 16, 2005

I'm sorry, could someone please spell out the names for me. I trying to become more familiar with these teams.

CDMM1991 · Nov 16, 2005

Nicole was talking about Jamie Silverstein and Ryan O'Meara, Loren Galler-Robinowitz and David Mitchell, and Tiffany Steigler and Sergei Magorofski (sp?)

STL_Blues_fan · Nov 16, 2005

Jaimie Silverstein and Ryan O'Meara; new team
Lauren Galler Rabinovitz and David Mitchel (I think that's his correct first name)
Tiffany Stiegler and Sergey Magerovsky (4th at last year nationals)

Other possible teams: Lydia Mannon and ? (is it Brandon Forthyth?) - new team

Morgan Matthews and Maxim Zavozin (5th at last year nationals, 1st at junior worlds)

Based on Lake Placid performance of Silverstein&O'Meara; Mannon&?; and Steigler and Magerovsky, I would give more weight to Silverstein&O'Meara.

Matthews and Zavosin looked good at Cup of China 2 weeks ago.

Lauren Galler Rabinovitz and David Mitchel were out last season with injuries but have placed 3rd at 2004 nationals. I would also give them an edge over Mannon&?; and Steigler and Magerovsky.

So, besides Gregory and Petukhov (I assume they are a lock), we have 3 teams battling for 2 spots. I hope that Silverstein&O'Meara and Lauren Galler Rabinovitz and David Mitchel would get those spots. Both pairs are my sentimental favorites. Assuming that Matthews and Zavosin stay together, they will definitely go to 2010 Olympics.

But these are just speculations. There are other teams out there that just may surprise us in STL.

Yana

Ptichka · Nov 16, 2005

Matthews & Zavozin are certainly very promising, but their senior debut has been somewhat disappointing.

Personally, I rather liked Steigler & Magerovsky when I saw them at the Evening with Champions.

Gaell-Mitchell & Rabinowitz don't do much for me.

Joesitz (RIP) · Nov 16, 2005

Ptichka said:
Matthews & Zavozin are certainly very promising, but their senior debut has been somewhat disappointing.

Personally, I rather liked Steigler & Magerovsky when I saw them at the Evening with Champions.

Gaell-Mitchell & Rabinowitz don't do much for me.

Definitely Matthews & Zovozin.

Joe

Dyan · Nov 16, 2005

Ptichka, when you say Matthews & Zavozin's senior debut was dissapointing; in what way?

I thought their finishing in the top five in their first senior grand prix event was pretty good. I can remember a time when U.S. dancers skating in their first grand prix events would be near the very bottom of the pack. M&Z's programs are quite good as well IMHO.

I think (if Tanith and Ben don't make it) Gregory/Petukhov will be joined by Silverstein/O'Meara and either Galler-Rabinowitz/Mitchell and Stiegler/Magerovsky.

I like G/R&M, they are talented skaters and have upped their difficulty but they don't seem to have the speed and charisma of some of the other teams. I might give the edge to S&M and even though they haven't competed since Lake Placid and Danil does not have U.S. citizenship Wester/Barantsev did beat G/R&M in Lake Placid as well.

Saundy · Nov 16, 2005

I thought Matthews and Zavozin also couldn't go to the Olympics due to citzenship issues? Correct me if I'm wrong please.

backspin · Nov 16, 2005

Saundy said:
I thought Matthews and Zavozin also couldn't go to the Olympics due to citzenship issues? Correct me if I'm wrong please.

I've read on other boards that the bill which would pull Tanith's citizenship through in time would also affect Zavozin in the same way.

nicole_l · Nov 16, 2005

It's interesting how we're going to have 3 World Junior Champions competing at Nationals this year: Silverstein won with Pekarek in 2000?, Belbin and Agosto won in 2002 I think, and Mathews and Zavosin won last year.
CDMM and STL, thanks for the clarification. STL I think it's Brandon Forsyth, and I agree that Galler-Rabinovitz and Mitchell have the edge over Manon/Forsyth and Matthews/Zavosin.

Ptichka · Nov 17, 2005

Dyan said:
Ptichka, when you say Matthews & Zavozin's senior debut was dissapointing; in what way?

I think I was mainly refering to their true senior debut - last year's nationals. They went in as favorites for the bronze, yet only ended up finishing 5th.

Their 5th place at CoC is interesting. On the one hand it's great that they beat Faiella and Scalli, but I think that was more of a fluke, since the Italians got many deductions in the free (2 points for a fall, and 1 point for a costume violations), while M&Z only got 1 (for an extended lift).

Looking at their detailed scores from the free is very interesting. I can tell that Garanina is loading them with very difficult elements that they are not fully ready for. Compare them to Wing & Lowe. M&Z had a higher tech score than W&L. However, their average GoE was actually negative, with a final tech score 1 point lower than the sum of base values. W&L's tech score, OTOH, was 0.7 above base.

This strategy is good if they improve. After all, this was only their first major competition in the season. If they become comfortable with this program enough to even average a flat GoE, they will have quite high scores. OTOH, I generally prefer programs where skaters feel comfortable with what they are doing, and don't make many mistakes.

Linny · Nov 17, 2005

Not Olympic Eligible at this time

I'd love a complete list of current USA dance teams who are not Olympic eligible at this time...
Belbin and Agosto
Stiegler and Magerovsky
Matthews and Zavozin

There are probably more...
Linny

gkelly · Nov 17, 2005

Linny said:
I'd love a complete list of current USA dance teams who are not Olympic eligible at this time...
Belbin and Agosto
Stiegler and Magerovsky
Matthews and Zavozin

There are probably more...
Linny

Wester and Barantsev -- apparently he has not been released by the Russian federation, thus they couldn't even compete at the fall international they were assigned to. Forget about ISU championships, much less Olympics, for this year.

Slattery and Lee, as far as I know. (He competed at the 2002 Olympics for Korea.)

euterpe · Nov 17, 2005

Finishing 5th at a GP event on their first try was a huge accomplishment for Morgan and Max, and the CoC commentator noted that they did not look like juniors at all. Sure they need to polish their FD, but so do the Grushgons, who lost to the Canadians at Skate Canada, and Faiella/Scali, who bombed at CoC.

If Tanith and Max get their citizenship in time, M/Z are a real contender for that third place. Their biggest competition is Silverstein/O'Meara, not G-R/M.

Galler-Rabinowitz/Mitchell have never done well at the GPs---in the 2004-2005 season, their best GP finish was 8th. They didn't compete at 2005 Nationals due to his shoulder surgery. As a Junior team, they never made it to the JGPF or to the Junior Worlds podium, so I don't see how they would rank ahead of the 2005 JGPF and Junior World Champion team.

gkelly · Nov 17, 2005

Here are US senior dance teams' international results and point totals so far this season. (Leaving out Belbin/Agosto because they're obviously way ahead of the rest.)

Obviously the numbers are not directly comparable because different events used different compulsory dances and different judging panels, different standards of the field as a whole (esp. JGP vs. senior events), and of course the same team may give totally different performances as different events. But it may give some sense of which teams are likely to be competitive with each other and which are on different levels.

JGP Slovakia:
3 Trina PRATT / Todd GILLES
USA
161.79 4 2 4

JGP Croatia:
2 Trina PRATT / Todd GILLES
USA
155.64 1 3 2

Nebelhorn:
4 Loren GALLER-RABINOWITZ / David MITCHELL USA
155.06 5 4 4
5 Tiffany STIEGLER / Sergey MAGEROVSKIY USA
150.04 6 5 5

Karl Schaefer:
5 Kimberley NAVARRO / Brent BOMMENTRE USA
146.06 7 5 4

Skate America:
5 Jamie SILVERSTEIN / Ryan O'MEARA
USA
155.51 6 4 5

7 Tiffany STIEGLER / Sergei MAGEROVSKI
USA
142.94 11 7 7

Skate Canada:
3 Melissa GREGORY / Denis PETUKHOV
USA
164.12 3 3 2

Cup of China:
5 Morgan MATTHEWS / Maxim ZAVOZIN
USA
157.72 6 5 5

Golden Spin:
2 Caitlin MALLORY / Brent HOLDBURG USA 152.67 2 3 2

Check here for comparisons of these teams and others against each other last summer:
http://www.ice-dance.com/events-results/LakePlacid05.htm

Check the various sectional results this weekend for the latest news.

Lots of strong teams, including some who have not been competing internationally this fall for various reasons. I would not be surprised to see one of those listed above finish out of the top 10 at Nationals -- which just means that there are more than 10 decent teams competing this year.

euterpe · Nov 17, 2005

You certainly cannot compare junior events with senior events. Matthews/Zavozin scored 169+ and 158+ at their gold-medal JGP events last season, 171+ points for the JGPF win and 187+ at Junior Worlds. The last two marks would top Gregory/Petukhov's at Skate Canada

What Pratt/Gilles scored in their JGP events is meaningless. Scores fluctuate wildly from one JGP event to another. Virtue/Moir scored 180+ in Andorra and 169+ in Montreal. The second-place finisher in Andorra was Davis/White, with 171+; the second place finisher in Montreal Bobrova/Soloviev, had just 137+ points--but made the final ahead of Pratt/Gilles.

gkelly · Nov 17, 2005

euterpe said:
You certainly cannot compare junior events with senior events.

That's very true. Just like in the old system, medalists at Jr. Worlds would get 5.8s for performances that would likely earn low-5 scores at senior events.

U.S. ice dancers and the Olympics

Arianne

Tonichelle

Idita-Rock-n-Roll

Arianne

nicole_l

Arianne

CDMM1991

STL_Blues_fan

Ptichka

Forum translator

Joesitz (RIP)

Dyan

Saundy

backspin

nicole_l

Ptichka

Forum translator

Linny

gkelly

euterpe

gkelly

euterpe

gkelly

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