Ice Dance Preview

ICE DANCE

The CD at Gomel is the Paso Doble. Here's the reference file:
http://www.goldenskate.com/forum/showthread.php?t=22951

At Gomel, Belarus, I expect to see Agafonova & Dun (UKR) win and Pushkash & Kiselev (RUS) finish second. This is the first time we have seen either of these pairs this season. P&K scored about 5 points behind Riazanova & Guerreiro at Russian Nationals last year in 5th place to R&G's 3rd place, so they are an able team. However, I loved A&D last year on the JGP, so I'm giving them the call for the win.

I expect the bronze medal to be contested between Findley & Richaud (FRA), Harvey & Gagnon (CAN) and Bailey & Herring (US). My guess for the last place in the top 6 would be BATURINTSEVA &VOLOBUIEV.

And other than A&D's new FD, the thing I'd love to hear about most is how Lamar and Sorensen do. Lamar's last year's partner won a JGP with his new partner. I'd love to see Lili get a medal too, just because.


Alisa AGAFONOVA / Dmitri DUN UKR
Coached by Marina Zoueva
Best total internation score 151.56 Chemnitz JGP 2007
Ukrainian Jr. Nationals OD 2008 (Putting on the Ritz) This is this year's OD.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gcd2CjeyFiY&feature=related
Ukrainian Jr. Nationals FD 2008 (This dates from August and may be this year's FD)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-nxNS2uSjc

Competitive History
2008 World Junior Championships 8 7 7 7 (150.57)
2008 Junior Grand Prix Final 7 5 6 6 (144.87)
2007 Junior Pavel Roman Memorial 2 2 2 2 (158.33)
2007 Pokal der Blauen Schwerter [JGP] 3 3 3 4 (151.56)
2007 Tallinn Cup [JGP] 2 2 3 2 (144.41)
2006 Chinese Taipei Cup [JGP] 4 2 2 2 (141.42)
2006 JGP Courchevel 8 4 3 4 (134.74)
2005 Gdansk Cup [JGP] 9 12 10 10 (115.22)
2004 Pokal der Blauen Schwerter [JGP] 14 10 10 10 (118.43)
2004 JGP Harbin 7 7 6 7 (119.04)
2002 Novice Pavel Roman Memorial 4 4 4 4

Ekaterina PUSHKASH / Dmitri KISELEV RUS
Personal best total score internationally 141.72
March 2006 OD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHJ0oTECxf0
2008 Russian Jr. Championships 5 5 4 5 (156.95)
2007 Sofia JGP 6 4 3 4 (141.72)
2007 Tallinn JGP 11 6 2 6 (137.51)
They had a bad start with the CD, but scored 68.74 in the FD
2006 Chinese Taipei Cup [JGP] 7 6 8 7 (123.43)

Tarrah HARVEY / Keith GAGNON CAN
Coached by Wing & Lowe
Personal best score 141.41 (Merano)
Their Merano FD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVrjNtDFKP4

8th Zagreb JGP 2008

Lake Placid, Starlight Waltz (7th overall in Group B for the set of 3 CDs)
http://photography.ice-dance.com/20...tarlightWaltz/JrB-CD2-SW-HarveyGagnon.jpg.php

Lake Placid, Paso Doble
http://photography.ice-dance.com/20...ial-PasoDoble/JrB-CD2-PD-HarveyGagnon.jpg.php

Lake Placid OD (5th in Group B 40.55)
http://photography.ice-dance.com/20...iginalDance-GroupB/harvey-gagnon_6384.jpg.php
http://photography.ice-dance.com/20...iginalDance-GroupB/harvey-gagnon_6397.jpg.php

Lake Placid FD (5th in Group B 60.50)
http://photography.ice-dance.com/20...r/Junior-FreeDance-GroupB/jrb-fd-4827.jpg.php

Ice Network Interview
http://www.ice-dance.com/articles/interviews/interview-harveygagnon-61908.html

2008 JGP Merano 4 3 4 4 (141.41)
2008 Canadian Junior National Championships 5 6 3 4 (132.86)
2008 Junior Western Challenge 7 2 2 4 (125.91)
2007 Croatia Cup [JGP] 8 10 8 8 (123.37)
2007 Canadian Junior National Championships 11 12 14 13 (100.05)
2007 BC/Yukon Junior Sectionals 2 2 2 2 (108.01)
2006 Canadian Junior National Championships 13 13 13 13 (105.02)
2006 Junior Western Challenge 3 3 4 4 (97.33)
2006 BC/Yukon Junior Sectionals 2 2 2 2 (104.36)
2005 Canadian Novice National Championships 10 4 11 10 (59.16)
2005 Novice Western Challenge 2 2 7 5 (59.57)
2005 BC/Yukon Novice Sectionals 1 1 1 1

Sara BAILEY / Kyle HERRING USA
Coached by Moxley, Kirsanov & Ludington
Best international total score 141.13 Mexico JGP 2008

(86th) (7th at Lake Placid 2007 119.23
http://www.usfigureskating.org/AthletePairBio.asp?id=38590
7th US Nationals Jr (5, 11, 6) 7th to skate in the FD 11th to skate in OD 8th in CD (2007, 2nd in Novice Dance)
Starlight group B
http://photography.ice-dance.com/20...arlightWaltz/JrB-CD2-SW-BaileyHerring.jpg.php
41.48 and 5th at LPIDC in OD
http://photography.ice-dance.com/20...inalDance-GroupA/jroda-bailey-herring.jpg.php
61.69 and 4th at LPIDC in FD
http://photography.ice-dance.com/20...eeDance-GroupB/JrFDGrpB-BaileyHerring.jpg.php

Competitive History
2008 Mexico Cup [JGP] 3 4 4 4 (141.13)
2008 U.S. Junior National Championships 5 11 6 7 (141.62)
2008 U.S. Eastern Junior Sectionals 1 2 1 1 (149.23)
2007 JGP Lake Placid 6 7 7 7 (119.23)
2007 U.S. Novice National Championships 1 1 2 2 (106.36)
2007 U.S. Eastern Novice Sectionals 1 1 1 1 (111.67)
2007 U.S. South Atlantic Novice Regionals 1 1 1 1
2006 Novice North American Challenge Skate - Vancouver 2 3 3 (59.85)


Isabella CANNUSCIO / Ian LORELLO USA

Coached by Ludington & Karponosov
Best total score 137.65 Merano JGP 2008

Their Merano 2008 FD
'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SayVmHAW_E
18 Isabella CANNUSCIO / Ian LORELLO USA 13
4th Harghita JGP
8th Sofia JGP
9th in Jrs in US Nationals
Ice Network, 22 minute mark CD Viennese Waltz
Ice Network, 40 minute mark for OD Zulu chants
Ice Network, 43 minute mark for FD Jive

Lake Placid Paso Doble (4th overall for the set of 3 Jr. CD's in Group A)
http://photography.ice-dance.com/20...-PasoDoble/jrcda-pd-cannuscio-lorello.JPG.php
http://photography.ice-dance.com/20...Junior-CD-Superfinal/CannuscioLorello.jpg.php

Lake Placid Starlight Waltz
http://photography.ice-dance.com/20...tarlightwaltz/jrcda-cannuscio-lorello.JPG.php

Lake Placid OD (4th in Group A 41.52)
http://photography.ice-dance.com/20...Dance-GroupA/jroda-cannuscio-lorello3.jpg.php
http://photography.ice-dance.com/20...Dance-GroupA/jroda-cannuscio-lorello4.jpg.php

Lake Placid FD (2nd in Group A 65.28)
http://photography.ice-dance.com/20...r/Junior-FreeDance-GroupA/jra-fd-1529.jpg.php

Competitive History
2008 JGP Merano 6 6 5 5 (137.65)
2008 U.S. Junior National Championships 9 8 7 9 (139.14)
2008 U.S. Eastern Junior Sectionals 4 5 2 4 (142.68)
2007 Sofia Cup [JGP] 7 11 5 8 (131.47)
2007 Harghita Cup [JGP] 5 3 6 4 (136.27)
2007 U.S. Novice National Championships 5 4 3 4 (100.78)
2007 U.S. Eastern Novice Sectionals 2 2 2 2 (105.31)
2007 U.S. South Atlantic Novice Regionals 2 2 2 2


Tatiana BATURINTSEVA / Ivan VOLOBUIEV RUS

Their Courchevel FD 2008 (Orangesport)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f95dI_oZxvc&feature=related
Clip of an exhibition they did
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2LlcD6W1X8
Competitive History
2008 JGP Courchevel 7 5 5 5 (135.92)
2007 Tallinn Cup [JGP] 10 9 7 7 (126.06)

Lesia VALADZENKAVA / Vitali VAKUNOV BLR
They are second team on this video (Merano FD)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=555OLk5IYWg
2008 JGP Merano 14 11 14 13 (106.70)
2007 Junior Pavel Roman Memorial 17 13 11 13 (119.37)
2007 Tallinn Cup [JGP] 14 14 11 13 (107.28)
2006 Spin of Norway [JGP] 14 14 14 14 (82.48)

Maria NOSULIA / Evgen KHOLONIUK UKR
They are the second pair on this video of their Merano FD 2008
Personal best total score 109.74 JGP Merano 2008
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9cv2wO0TWQ

2008 JGP Merano 13 15 9 11 (109.74)
2007 Novice Pavel Roman Memorial 1 1 1 1 (65.23)
2006 Novice Liberec Trophy 5 1 1 1 (56.41)

Viktoria KAVALEVA / Yirii BIELIAIEV BLR
2008 Ostrava JGP 15th ( 101.69) 16 15 14
They are just up from novices. They competed at the Pavel Roman Memorial in 2007 in novices and finished 2nd
2007 Novice Pavel Roman Memorial 2 3 4 2 (53.03)
2006 Novice Pavel Roman Memorial 9 11 8 9 (50.40)

Hanna ASADCHAYA / Dmitri LAMTYUGIN BLR
Coached by Irina Lobacheva
Personal Best total socre 98.19 in international competition. (2007 Croatia JGP)
2008 Courchevel JGP-withdrew
2008 World Junior Championships 30 28 30 (FNR)
2007 Junior Golden Lynx 2 1 1 1 (115.94)
2007 Croatia Cup [JGP] 12 12 12 12 (98.19)
2007 Harghita Cup [JGP] 14 13 14 14 (97.81)

Maria POPKOVA / Viktor KOVALENKO UZB
Russian Cup 2007 MOB 9 11 13 (11th overall) (108.68)

Lili LAMAR / Nikolaj SORENSEN DEN
Lili Lamar used to skate with Zach Donohue (, US). Donohue won Ostrava with his new partner, Piper Gilles.

Lili Lamar and Nikolaj Sorensen are a new team this year.

dorispulaski said:

Ekaterina PUSHKASH / Dmitri KISELEV RUS 5
Personal best total score internationally 141.72
March 2006 OD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHJ0oTECxf0
2008 Russian Jr. Championships 5 5 4 5 (156.95)
2007 Sofia JGP 6 4 3 4 (141.72)
2007 Tallinn JGP 11 6 2 6 (137.51)
They had a bad start with the CD, but scored 68.74 in the FD
2006 Chinese Taipei Cup [JGP] 7 6 8 7 (123.43)

Click to expand...

They recently scored 149.79 (1,2,1) at the Russia Cup competition in Samara, which they won. They scored 29.8 in the CD and had a fall in the OD. They are from the Svinin/Zhuk camp.

At the recent Russia Cup competition
With Irina Zhuk

As always, amazing job, Doris!

Go Findlay/Richaud and Baturintseva and Volobuiev! They won me over at the Courchevel competition.

Nicolas Sorenson skated with Anna Thomsen from 2003-2007. They skated in the 2005 JGP and were 14th in the 2005 Sofia Cup and 15th 2005 Gdansk Cup. They were 24th at 2006 JW and 13th at 2006 JGP Liberec.

After he split with Thomsen, Sorenson teamed briefly with Barbora Heroldova (CZE) who had previously skated for CZE with Zdenek Pazdera. Heroldova / Sorenson skated in the 2007 JGP and were 14th and 17th in their two events, and 21st at JW 2008.

chuckm, Thanks for the extra information!

It seems that teams with a minimum of PB being 141 are the ones to watch for the podium. So if we could see a live stream of this, it would be so much more interesting.

Joe, I am absolutely pining for some streaming coverage of these JGP events, but so far Courchevel is the only one we have had.

I have hopes for Sheffield, though!

I will not sign up for the Sheffield live stream, if there is one. Last year, many people got rooked out of big $$ because if their ISP 'burped', the connection was severed and they had to pay to restart the feed. Some people wound up with huge credit card bills but never got to see much of what they had paid so much money for.

And the Sheffield feed providers absolutely refused to give any refunds.

Ouch! I'm pinning my hopes on those folks that do use it making vids

GO TARRAH and KEITH!!! GO CANADA!!!
I love this team's style!
My projected top 6

Agafonova/Dun
Pushkash/Kiselev
Harvey/Gagnon
Findley/Richaud
Baturintseva/Volobuiev
Bailey/Herring
Cannuscio/Lorello

AGAFONOVA/DUN and PUSHKASH/KISELEV for sure, but also move BATURINTSEVA / VOLOBUIEV up a couple of notches.

The judging panel for Ice Dance:
UKR POL CAN BLR SVK FRA UZB RUS USA ISR


FOUR former SSRs, plus POL, SVK and ISR (whose judges almost always lean towards EE dance teams).

I can understand why the US opted not to send any of their top teams to BLR.

chuckm said:

AGAFONOVA/DUN and PUSHKASH/KISELEV for sure, but also move BATURINTSEVA / VOLOBUIEV up a couple of notches.

The judging panel for Ice Dance:
UKR POL CAN BLR SVK FRA UZB RUS USA ISR


FOUR former SSRs, plus POL, SVK and ISR (whose judges almost always lean towards EE dance teams).

I can understand why the US opted not to send any of their top teams to BLR.

Click to expand...

why did they known the judging panel in advance
maybe USA will count on they former friends the ISR FRA CAN UKR

chuckm said:

AGAFONOVA/DUN and PUSHKASH/KISELEV for sure, but also move BATURINTSEVA / VOLOBUIEV up a couple of notches.

The judging panel for Ice Dance:
UKR POL CAN BLR SVK FRA UZB RUS USA ISR


FOUR former SSRs, plus POL, SVK and ISR (whose judges almost always lean towards EE dance teams).

I can understand why the US opted not to send any of their top teams to BLR.

Click to expand...

Chuckm:
This is the kind of poorly thought out post that makes people stop checking these sites. It is obvious that you are biased to only the kids with the names Hubbell or Shibutani !! There are MANY other (as you so rudely stated) top teams competing for the USA !! I think that all the teams that EARNED and again I say EARNED a JGP assignment are all top teams . Let's show a little support for the "other" teams that are not as commonly talked about yet are just as deserving of our support. They are ALL team USA !! Not to mention the fact that they went a very long way to represent their country.

By top teams, I meant teams that have a chance to make the JGPF. Obviously, Cannuscio/Lorello and Bailey/Herring are top US teams, but neither one has enough points to make it to the JGPF, so finishing 5th or 6th here will help them boost their ISU Ranking and won't hurt them.

But if the US sent Chock/Zuerlein or Gilles/Donohue to this competition, they might have placed low enough to endanger or dash their JGPF hopes.

Capisce?

BTW both C/Z and G/D face tough competition at JGP GBR. They will face Agafonova / Dun and Pushkash / Kiselev there, (likely) Routhier / Saucke-Lacelle and another high-point Russian team as well. I just hope there will be a more balanced judging panel for the Sheffield event.

chuckm said:

By top teams, I meant teams that have a chance to make the JGPF. Obviously, Cannuscio/Lorello and Bailey/Herring are top US teams, but neither one has enough points to make it to the JGPF, so finishing 5th or 6th here will help them boost their ISU Ranking and won't hurt them.

But if the US sent Chock/Zuerlein or Gilles/Donohue to this competition, they might have placed low enough to endanger or dash their JGPF hopes.

Capisce?

BTW both C/Z and G/D face tough competition at JGP GBR. They will face Agafonova / Dun and Pushkash / Kiselev there, (likely) Routhier / Saucke-Lacelle and another high-point Russian team as well. I just hope there will be a more balanced judging panel for the Sheffield event.

Click to expand...

we will have to send only USA and Canadians

dancemaster said:

why did they known the judging panel in advance
maybe USA will count on they former friends the ISR FRA CAN UKR

Click to expand...

The USFS would have anticipated such a one-sided panel, and they would have been right.

ISR has rarely supported US dance teams over Russian and EE teams because most of the Israeli judges are from EE countries.

FRA can go either way, depending on the judge. The French judge in Madrid loved the Shibutanis, but the one in Ostrava hated Gilles/Donohue.

CAN judges are much more likely to support their own teams than US teams, and in this particular event, the Canadian and US teams are vying for the same placements, so the Canadian judge will support her own teams above the US teams.

The UKR judge is Valery Maksaev, and his preference has always been Russian and Ukrainian teams. Most of the judges from the former SSRs were trained under the old Soviet system, and old habits are firmly entrenched. The only exception I have found is LTU and that may happened because of the the trashing of Drobiazko / Vanagas.

tell me do you really understand Ice dancing.
or just like to put your views on the forum
last year you did the same on the final grand prix
I got the number done by a expert and nothing came up...just rubbish talk

Alisa AGAFONOVA / Dmitri DUN UKR
Madison CHOCK / Greg ZUERLEIN
katerina PUSHKASH / Dmitri KISELEV

all went to Estonia last year and the USA came first no problem there

That was last year.

The judges for the EST JGP were CAN GER CZE USA RUS EST BLR POL FRA UKR

Here's how CAN, USA, FRA and the former SSRs and EEs placed C/Z, A/D, L/I (CAN), Mysl/Novak (CZE) and P/K (who were not a contender after placing 11th in the CD):

CD:
RUS: CZ-1, A/D-1 (tie), P/K-2, L/I-3, M/N-4
BLR: CZ-1, A/D-2, M/N-3, L/I-4
UKR: A/D-1, M/N-3, C/Z-4, L/I-5
EST: L/I-1, C/Z-2, M/N-3, A/D-4
POL: A/D-1, C/Z-2, L/I-3, M/N-4
CZE: CZ-1, M/N-2, A/D-3, L/I-4
USA: C/Z-2, A/D-3, L/I-3, MN-5
CAN: L/I-2, A/D-3, C/Z-4, M/N-8
FRA: A/D-2, M/N-3, P/K-4, L/I-6, C/Z-8
GER: M/N-1, C/Z-2, A/D-4, L/I-5


OD:
RUS: P/K-1, A/D-2, M/N-2 (tie), C/Z-5, L/I-7
BLR: A/D-1, M/N-2, CZ-3, P/K-3 (tie), L/I-5
UKR: A/D-1, M/N-2, P/K-3, C/Z-5, L/I-6
EST: C/Z-1, A/D-2, M/N-3, L/I-4, P/K-6
POL: C/Z-1, M/N-2, A/D-3, L/I-4, P/K-6
CZE: C/Z-1, M/N-2, A/D-3, L/I-4, P/K-5
USA: CZ-2, A/D-3, L/I-4, M/N-5, P/K-6
CAN: L/I-1, C/Z-2, A/D-3, M/N-5, P/K-6
FRA: M/N-1, A/D-2, C/Z-3, L/I-5, P/K-6
GER: M/N-1, A/D-2, L/I-3, C/Z-4, P/K-8

Interesting, isn't it, that RUS, BLR and UKR were the only judges to place PUSHKASH/KISELEV in the top 3. All the other judges placed them 5th or lower.

FD:
RUS: A/D-1, P/K-2, C/Z-3, M/N-4, L/I-7
BLR: A/D-1, M/N-2, P/K-3, C/Z-4, LI-7
UKR: A/D-1, C/Z-2, P/K-3, M/N-4, L/I-7
EST: C/Z-1, A/D-2, M/N-3, L/I-4, P/K-5
POL: C/Z-1, A/D-2, M/N-2, L/I-5, P/K-6
CZE: M/N-1, C/Z-2, A/D-3, P/K-4, L/I-5
USA: CZ-1, M/N-2, A/D-4, L/I-5, P/K-6
CAN: P/K-1, L/I-2, C/Z-2 (tie), A/D-5, M/N-8
FRA: C/Z-1, M/N-2, A/D-3, L/I-4, P/K-6
GER: M/N-1, C/Z-1 (tie), A/D-3, L/I-4, P/K-8

Interesting again: RUS, BUL, UKR all had A/D as #1 (the only judges to do so) AND had P/K in the top 3.

BTW, the final placements:
1-C/Z
2-A/D
3-L/I
4-M/N
6-P/K

dancemaster said:

tell me do you really understand Ice dancing.
or just like to put your views on the forum
last year you did the same on the final grand prix
I got the number done by a expert and nothing came up...just rubbish talk

Click to expand...

You saw what you wanted to believe. I saw facts backed up by data.

chuckm said:

You saw what you wanted to believe. I saw facts backed up by data.

Click to expand...

SAW???
you were not present during this event
and you never got to see a video of it
so what facts,,,,, ??