JGP Croatia 2012 Pairs Preview | Golden Skate

JGP Croatia 2012 Pairs Preview

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
I should know better than to make any predictions about pairs at all, especially about junior pairs. When you consider that the World Junior silver medallists, Yu & Jin did not medal in their last event, and that the World bronze medallists, Davankova & Deputat, finished second in theirs, it is obviously difficult to handicap teams based on their previous scores successfully. This year it is harder: the rules for what makes a Back Outside Death Spiral yield you any points are tough, tough, tough this year. The team that succeeds in doing one correctly and for more than level 1 in the short program will have a huge leg up on the other teams.

Considering that Purdy & Marinaro won their previous event, and Aaron & Settlage won the bronze at theirs, you'd think that they would be my top picks, and they are, but I still think that Davankova & Deputat RUS & Yu & Jin CHN have more innate talent than either and should score higher if all teams skate well.

I'm going with Davankova & Deputat first, Purdy Marinaro second, Yu & Jin third, and Aaron & Settlage fourth.

But really, almost any choices could be defended.



Margaret Purdy & Michael Marinaro CAN
SP O Mio Babbino Caro by G. Puccini
LP The Artist (soundtrack) by Ludovic Bource
They were 6th in Seniors at Canadian Nationals (and were the 09/10 season Junior Champions)
They were 5th at the World Junior Championships 2012, where they scored their personal best of 141.76.
Their LP at Skate Detroit this summer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dpy1QKyfm1o
They won JGP Lake Placid with a score of 144. 72, which was a new personal best for them.
Their SP at Lake Placid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YE4G0Ix1QY&feature=plcp
Their LP at Lake Placid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Db_q4J0YQE&feature=plcp

Madeline Aaron & Max Settlage USA
SP The Swan from Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saens
LP Excerpts from Carmen Suite by G. Bizet and R. Shchederin
Their coaches are Dalilah Sappenfield, Larry Ybarra, and John Coughlin and their choreographer Dalilah Sappenfield.
They placed sixth at last season's US Junior Nationals.
Madeline and Max scored 75.32 in an LP exhibition at the Broadmoor Open, and they earned 45.13 in the SP there.
Personal best 118.51 at the 2011 JGP Baltic Cup
Their LP from the 2011 JGP Baltic cup:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmBJdq8xlqo
Aaron & Settlage competed at JGP Lake Placid, where they won the bronze medal with a score of 130.44.
Their SP at Lake Placid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIo5nGART7I
Their LP at Lake Placid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1Kz3hORZc0


Vasilisa Davankova & Andrei Deputat RUS
SP The Godfather by Edvin Marton
LP Once Upon a Time in Mexico (soundtrack)
Their Coaches are Sergei Dobroskokov & Sergei Rosliakov. Their choreographer is Dmitri Stepanchikov. Vasiliisa is 14, and Andrei is still 19.

Vasilisa & Andrei are the Russian Jr Champions and WJC bronze medallists.
Their personal best of 153.66 was earned at the WJC

Their Exhibition at Junior Worlds
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnRHvUD04Mo
They competed at JGP Lake Placid., finishing second there with a score of 133.11.
Their SP from Lake Placid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgMjlMXJX98
Their LP from Lake Placid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYWqMg08sy0

Xiaoyu Yu & Yang Jin CHN
SP Violin Concerto
LP Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss
Xiaoyu is 16 and Yang is 18.
They train with their coaches Bo Luan & Weibin Cai at Harbin. Their choreographer is Marina Zueva.
Their personal best score is 167.48, achieved at last year's World Junior Championships, where they finished second. They are Chinese Senior bronze medallists from the 2012 Chinese Winter Games.
Their Exhibition skate from Junior Worlds:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XDc4D5Qyko
Their LP at the 2012 Chinese National Winter Games
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1KsRzQYLQw
They finished fourth at JGP Austria with a score of 142.77.
Their SP in Austria:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhcRQOAhDf8&feature=plcp
Their LP in Austria:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5OFKZ-ffvE&feature=plcp


Veera Kestila & Callum Bullard AUS
SP Austin Powers (soundtrack) by George Clinton
LP Don Quixote by Leon Minkus
They have been, and continue to be, coached by a lot of different coaches in different locations: Liz Cain & P. Cain (Texas) S. Carlow (Australia), D. Sappenfield (Colorado). Their choreographer is Evgeni Nemirovski
They are the Junior Champions of Australia. Veera is 14, and Callum is 18, soon to be 19.
Callum has some unusual hobbies: medieval combat, geocaching, fire poi.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poi_(performance_art)#Fire_poi
I had never heard of fire poi. It is a form of swinging weight that have been set ablaze.
Here is a video of Fire Poi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IjdnMvBW_A
Their best ever score was achieved at JGP 2011 Tallinn last year, 75.84, where they placed fourteenth. They competed at World Juniors last year, but did not make it out of the qualifying round.
Their short program at Tallinn JGP:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QC9GZGVuKh8

Ekaterinina Angelina & Philipp Tarasov AZE
Ekaterinina used to skate in singles in Russia and competed on the Russian Cup in 2011.
She finished thirteenth on the fourth leg of the Cup.
Philipp (who at the time spelled his name Filipp) used to skate pairs with Anastasia Lipunova, competed in pairs on the Russian Cup in 2011, winning the second leg of the Cup.
http://tracings.net/lipu-tara.html
It appears that they have teamed up to skate pairs for Azerbaijan.
There are no videos of either of them that I have found on youtube, and their ages and coaching history are not given on their Tracings biography. They have no ISU biography yet.

Hayleigh Bell & Alistair Sylvester CAN
SP Charleston by Cecil Mack
LP Fantasie Impromptu by F. Chopin
Hayleigh is 16 and Alastair is 17.
They are coached by Lee Barkell and their choreographer is Kelly Johnson in Barrie, Ontario.
They scored their personal best of 126.73 at the 2012 World Junior Championships, where they finished twelth.
They finished eighth in the short program, with a score of 35.45 and sixth in the long program with a score of 70.92 at Skate Detroit this summer.
Their Junior Worlds LP
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwpZD0RKNcY
They competed at JGP Austria, finishing seventh, with a score of 122.22.
Their SP from Austria:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJzQwZSIAKM&feature=plcp
Their LP from Austria:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaxiKbXYNPc&feature=plcp

Krystel Desjardins & Charlie Bilodeau CAN
SP The Nutcracker by P. I. Tchaikovski
LP The Umbrellas of CHerbourg by Michel Legrand
They are coached by Patrice Archetto, and their choreographers are Mylene Girard & Jonathan Pelletier.
Krystel is 15, and Charlie is 19.
They are the Canadian Junior silver medallists
They scored 35.94 in the SP at the Quebec Summer Championships this year, and 72.43 for their LP there.
Their SP from 2011 Canadian Nationals
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03kzRpoMSjI
They made their JGP debut here at Lake Placid, where they finished tenth with a score of 113.61.
Their SP from Lake Placid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpZrpJnYVZg&feature=plcp
Their LP from Lake Placid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrreA3p7Ahs&feature=plcp


Vanessa Bauer & Nolan Seegert GER
This is another relatively recent team, for which no ISU biography exists.
Nolan has skated with a number of partners before Vanessa: Bauer & Seegert, Klinger & Seegert, Salatzki & Seegert
At the German National Championships, Vanessa finished ninth in Junior Ladies in 2011
Their free skate from Challenge Cup 2012, where they finsihed third with a score of 70.92.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jwbev1Mx9dI&feature=plcp


Bianca Manacorda & Niccolo Macii ITA
Their ISU bio has not been updated.
Their coach is Barbara Luoni, and their choreographer is Marco Perfido.
Bianca will soon turn 15, and Niccolo will soon turn 17.
They finished 18th at World juniors.where they scored their best short program of 35.37. They did not qualify to skate the long program there.
Recently they won the bronze medal at the Bavarian Open in Oberstdorf.
Their SP from Jr Worlds 2012
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmBQamAoHpo
Their LP from the Warsaw Cup in Nov. 2011, where they placed seventh in juniors with a score of 86.11.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsrcJXWi000

Marcelina Lech & Jakub Tyc POL
In 2010, Jakub was skating with Anastasia Levshina
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEo7SoEnzpc
In 2011, he was skating with Anna Siedlecka.
In 2011, Marcelina Lech was skating singles, and finished thirteenth at the 3 Nations joint championship in 2012 in Senior Ladies..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQ6EkzrNJwQ
This year, they competed in Juniors for Poland at the Nestle Nesquik Cup and finished fourth, with a score of 96.55.


Kamila Gainetdinova & Ivan Bich RUS
SP Yablochko (Russian Folk Dance)
LP Die Fledermaus Ouverture by Johann Strauss

They are a relatively new team.
Their coach is Oksana Kazakova, and their choreographer is Ivan Kozlov. Kamila is nearly 15; Ivan is 19.
They are Russian junior bronze medallists in pairs, and placed eleventh at the World Junior Championships, where they earned their personal best score of 127.84. They placed third at the Warsaw Cup 2011 with a score of 121.66.

Here is their performance from the World Junior Championships.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xsVyn1xdZI
They competed at JGP Lake Placid, finishing seventh in juniors with a score of 120.85.
Their SP at Lake Placid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4X8h3Pvns0
Their LP at Lake Placid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HWTJsa-dSQ&feature=plcp


Evgenia Tarasova & Vladimir Morozov RUS
Currently, they have no ISU biography. The following information is courtesy of AlexRus (thank you!).
Evgenia has not yet turned 18. Valadimir is not yet 20. Thanks to Alex Rus
Their coaches are Andrei Hekalo & Nina Mozer (Moscow).
They are a new pair this season..

Last season they had different partners:
Evgenia TARASOVA (in pair with Egor Chudin) - Final of Cup of Russia 2nd, score 155.11 (Senior) Coupe de Nice 2011 - 7th (Senior), Ice Challenge 2011 - 5th (Senior)
Vladimir MOROZOV (in pair with Ekaterina Krutskih) - Cup of Russia V 1st place score 147.14 (Junior), JGP Volvo Cup 2011 6th, JGP Tallinn Cup 2011 8th.

Season 2012/13 (in pair)
Open Moscow Championship - 1st place score 136.73 (Junior).

Photos
http://www.fskate.ru/skaters/103/photo/
http://www.fskate.ru/skaters/57/photo/

Videos (from September this year)
SP http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q06sZlt-_p4
FS http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwQgctKmMmM

Test Skating Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nf4K3slH0Jg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykyePeaeXzk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFyUc4cZWhM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2d9Zg0NWkuA


Jessica Calalang & Zack Sidhu USA
SP Night Train by Alvino Rey
LP The Artist (soundtrack) by Ludovic Bource
Zack is 20, and Jessica is 17.
Their coaches are Todd Sand, Jenni Meno, Christine Binder,& John Nicks. Their current Choreographers are Cindy Stuart & Renee Roca.
They obtained their personal best international score of 139.02 at Tallinn JGP last year, where they won the bronze medal.
They were fourth in Juniors in the US last year, and so did not qualify for junior worlds.
Jessica & Zack finished in second place in the short program at Skate Detroit with a score of 41.71 and in fifth in the long program score of 73.53.
Here is their LP from JGP Tallinn
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqdzabtlrVc
They competed at JGP Austria, where they finished sixth with a score of 122.88.
Their SP from Austria
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IN1l202iPg
Their LP from Austria:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=almJ7nybVGM


Christina Zaitsev & Ernie Utah Stevens USA (Had to correct his name)
SP "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!" by Abba, performed by the London Symphony Orchestra
LP : "Toccata" by Bach
Their coaches are Elena Zaitsev & Sergei Zaitsev; their choreographer is Elena Zaitsev.
Christine is 13, Utah is 18 (19 in December)
They finished fourth in Novice pairs at the last US figure skating championships with a score of 107.70.
A photo of them:
http://web.icenetwork.com/images/2012/09/24/GAyjZOPR.jpg
There are currently no youtube videos of them.
 
Last edited:

colleen o'neill

Medalist
Joined
Nov 3, 2006
doris, the previews are invaluable ..and AlexRus is becoming a treasured Russian resource . :)

Applause all round:clap:
 

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
Love all these previews!

But IIRC, Sui and Han won junior worlds last season.

Quite right...not only that, but I had it correct in the bio part, too. :eek::

That will teach me to post one of these when I am holding my eyelids up with toothpicks because I am so sleepy. However, there is still the men's and the ladies to complete, and the event with start soon.
 

Macassar88

Medalist
Joined
Dec 21, 2011
Quite right...not only that, but I had it correct in the bio part, too. :eek::

That will teach me to post one of these when I am holding my eyelids up with toothpicks because I am so sleepy. However, there is still the men's and the ladies to complete, and the event with start soon.

It's fine - everyone makes mistakes (Like me expecting Yu and Jin do win their first JGP event...)
 

laser

Spectator
Joined
Feb 17, 2010
"and Aaron & Settlage won theirs"

One other very small correction to this great intro about all of the teams - Aaron and Settlage were third at their first event in Lake Placid
 

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
laser, Good to see you posting! Welcome to Golden Skate.

Thank you for the corrections!
 
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