Who will have a "break-through" year?

Lanie · Aug 27, 2006

La Rhumba said:
Yes, Joe, the Kerrs have always had upbeat, uptempo Freedances since they first teamed up together in 2000. Their choice of music is not always to everybody's taste though, and I honestly think some of the Judges didn't quite *get* the Scottish bagpipes last season unfortunately, cos they certainly deserved better in the CoP scores. :disagree:

What was John's comment, that they changed the costumes from Europeans "because maybe the Bulgarian judge didn't get the reference"? I think they knew they were going up against convention and knew it would probably cost them in PCS...but they did it anyway! :thumbsup:

I hope Sarah Meier does some great programs this season, I liked watching her last season! She's just got this nice airy quality, I find. It's different from the usual skaters I find myself liking, ie Sasha.

Mathman · Aug 27, 2006

I saw the Kerrs live at Skate America last year, and while I was impressed by their talent I couldn't help feeling that brother-sister acts compete with a handicap. It is harder for them to make use of romantic or sexy positions in their routines.

Danielle and Steve Hartsell were a good example of this, I thought. There was just a different chemistry to their programs, compared to the other couples.

I'm not sure how it affected Kitty and Peter Carouthers.

Break-out season: that new youngster Petrovic from Serbia. :agree:

SeaniBu · Aug 27, 2006

Yah! Go A*F*S :clap:

La Rhumba · Aug 29, 2006

Mathman said:
I saw the Kerrs live at Skate America last year, and while I was impressed by their talent I couldn't help feeling that brother-sister acts compete with a handicap. It is harder for them to make use of romantic or sexy positions in their routines.

I'd agree they definitely have to think more about the type of routines they do, so tend to focus on more dance based, rhythmical, mood dances, rather than portraying a love story, and their positions in lifts, especially in the FD, tend to be more athletic based. But rather than be a stifling point or hinderance, I think it can lead to more creativity and imagination, and a uniqueness that is a pleasure to watch from the norm. :clap:

Joesitz (RIP) · Aug 30, 2006

Fred and Adele (siblings) did quite well in the dance world before he went Hollywood.

gk_891 · Sep 4, 2006

I could see Domnina & Shabalin having a breakthrough year, especially since they are now the first ranked Russian team. However, with the Bulgarians, French, and Lithuanians still around, I don't think they should push for medals quite yet but I guess I should see their programs first before I say that!

nuge · Sep 5, 2006

Well the Lithuanians D/V have infact retired again .They are not in any of the GPS .Den/Stav Dub/Lauz and Del/Shoen will still be competing .I think Domnina/Shabalin will be rising soon but I think it will be next year .I also think the other russians K/N look extremely promising and will be on the Kerrs tails .Next season B/A Delobel/Shoenfelder and Domnina/Shabalin will be top three.I still don't think Dubreil /Lauzon will be around for 2010 olympics.

Jaana · Sep 6, 2006

Mathman said:
I saw the Kerrs live at Skate America last year, and while I was impressed by their talent I couldn't help feeling that brother-sister acts compete with a handicap. It is harder for them to make use of romantic or sexy positions in their routines.

Yes, that is quite true. Although I have liked some sister and brother teams during the years, they have always lacked something that otherwise appears between a female and male ice dancer, what ever kind the programmes might have been. Maybe the appropriate words could be "lacking chemistry"?

rjulie510 · Sep 6, 2006

Rohene Ward.
Yu-Na Kim
Gedevanishvil
NNNTL
Savchenko/Szolkowy
The Kerrs

sk8addict · Sep 8, 2006

I'm hoping Nick Laroche has a breakthrough this year And Jennifer Don as well! Oh yes and Rohene Ward!!

Joesitz (RIP) · Sep 8, 2006

Nick LaRoche, imo, is another underrated skater with the judges.

Is Jennifer still around? She's another underrated skater.

Joe

chuckm · Sep 8, 2006

Jennifer Don is skating for Chinese Taipei. She has been underrated because her jumps are limited: she has only 3T, 3S and 2A. That was part of the reason why she was skating Pairs with Jonathon Hunt.

slutskayafan21 · Sep 9, 2006

hockeyfan228 said:
I disagree. A breakout year in 2007 guarantees nothing. Susanna Poykio had a breakout year in 2005, not so good in 2006. Rochette had a breakout year, then went backwards at Worlds in Moscow. Weir broke out in 2004, but hasn't yet made it to the next step. After 2005, Savchenko/Skolkowy looked like Olympic medal contenders for Torino. Pang/Tong looked very strong after their World bronze medal; the next year they were overtaken by Zhang/Zhang. Buttle broke out in 2001 and then regressed; Matt Savoie was a GPF bronze medallist before falling off the judges' radar. Joubert finally broke his Worlds curse with a silver medal performance in Dortmund, and fell in 2005. Lindemann had a great year in 2004, and even for those who feel he was held up for his Worlds bronze by skating at home, the quality of his skating was certainly good enough for top five; the next year he plummeted and German Men had one spot for 2006. Likewise Julia Sebestyen -- European Champ in 2004 (and wuzzrobbed in Dortmund, IMO) and not even top 10 now. Chengjiang Li was a close fourth in 2003 -- wuzrobbed of bronze, again, in my opinion -- and he's been falling since. Chait/Saskhnovski and Zagorska/Siudek won World bronzes and have dropped since. Petrova/Tikhonov have been bounced up-down-up-down.

Very few skaters have a breakout year, like Kwan, Yagudin, and Plushenko and stay at or close to the top year after year after year, while others go up and down the scale, for whatever reason: injury, serendipity, illness, loss of favor, politics, payback, whatever.

You forgot Lambiel, he had his breakthrough with his 4th place at the 2004 Worlds and has built on that since. Lysacek as well had his breakthrough year in 2005 and built on it. Belbin/Agosto broke through as contenders in 2004 and have gone on to medal at every World and Olympic and GP final event entered since. The Zhangs had their breakthrough year in 2005 when they started beating Pang/Tong and have only gone forward from there.

Goebel had his breakthrough year in 2001 and went on to further his career in both 2002 and 2003 before being taken down for good by injuries more or less. Hughes started winning GP event medals in 2003-04, showed well at Worlds, and built on that over the next 2 years culminating with 06 Olympic Gold. Cohen had her breakthrough at 2000 U.S Nationals and despite his blip of a dissapointment at WJs that year only went forward from there. Totmianina/Marinin broke through in 2002 with European Gold, Olympic 4th, and World silver, and were never not 1st or 2nd at any event they entered again, culminating in 2006 Olympic Gold. Navka/Kostomarov made their first breakthrough in 2003 with European bronze, GP final silver, and Worlds 4th(narrowly lost bronze on a split vote)and went on to dominate ice dancing the next 3 seasons culminating in 06 Olympic Gold. Grushina/Goncharov had their breakthrough in 02-03 with 3 GP event wins, and went on to contend every year from there, ending with World and Olympic bronzes before retiring.

visaliakid · Sep 9, 2006

Stiegler and Magorovsky are no longer a pair. He is coaching some while going back to school... Tiffany is looking for a new partner

hockeyfan228 · Sep 9, 2006

slutskayafan21 said:
You forgot Lambiel, he had his breakthrough with his 4th place at the 2004 Worlds and has built on that since.

I haven't forgotten anything. What I said was that a "breakout" year guarantees nothing. For every skater who "broke through" and kept up their placements, there is a skater who went a giant step forward, and some pretty big steps backwards.

chuckm · Sep 9, 2006

Sarah Hughes had the biggest breakthrough possible. But it was all downhill after that.

Eman had a breakthrough at the GPF when he beat Plushenko; after that he became his usual self.

Jenny Kirk had a breakthrough when she won silver at Skate America. But that was her peak at the Senior level.

Stefan Lindemann won bronze at Worlds 2004, but has skated poorly since.

Maria Butyrskaya won Worlds 2000, but never reached the World podium again.

R.D. · Sep 9, 2006

I thought Butirskaya won in 1999 (I didn't watch back then so I could be wrong though)

Definitely, though, I agree with the general trend of skaters who appear to show some promise and then turns out to be only a peak in an "ordinary" career. Of course, Kostner, Ando, and Kirk are good examples of this. Lately Meissner and Asada have also showed a lot of promise. Let's see if one of them can become the next big one, or whether it's just a peak in an ordinary career.

But then you have someone like Arakawa who basically resembled a roller-coaster ride between 2004 and 2006. Up, down and then back up again.

One of the big things I've learned at GS is that what happened last season really can NOT be a good indicator of what's gonna happen next season. The surprises usually occur in the Grand Prix events...the Nationals (maybe except for Japan) are so predictable it's not even funny...and Worlds can sometimes hold surprises and other times it's predictable.

The Olympics on the other hand, though...NEVER predictable- and that's what's so fun about them.

SeaniBu · Sep 9, 2006

Butyrskaya became the oldest lady to win the world in 99 and did fairly well a couple of years after, but fell short in the 02 Oly Games, but she still looked Marvelous. :love:

CzarinaAnya · Sep 10, 2006

I'm hoping for Orscher & Lucash.

My mom barely knows about them and had a dream about Garrett. *do do do do* lol

chuckm · Sep 10, 2006

Orscher and Lucash broke up, and neither one is going to skate competitively in the future.

Who will have a "break-through" year?

Lanie

Mathman

SeaniBu

La Rhumba

Supporting All British Skaters!

Joesitz (RIP)

gk_891

nuge

Jaana

rjulie510

sk8addict

Joesitz (RIP)

chuckm

slutskayafan21

Match Penalty

visaliakid

hockeyfan228

chuckm

R.D.

SeaniBu

CzarinaAnya

chuckm

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