2013 End-Of-Year Eisgala At Oberstdorf

Seeing as I can’t find any mention of it elsewhere on the forum, I just wanted to start a thread about the end-of-year ice gala at Oberstdorf.

Firstly, despite what I was starting to think this time last month, the 2013 Eisgala is going ahead, and there are still a few tickets available.

This year’s cast includes Ilja Kulik, Carolina Kostner, Sarah Meier, Nelli Zhiganshina / Alexander Gaszi, and “lots more international stars”.

For a few years now, I have been thinking about going to the Oberstdorf Eisgala.

The Eisgala is always held on the evening of competition day of the first round of the Four Hills Ski Jumping tournament. And I have often thought this would be a perfect opportunity to kill 2 birds with one stone. Go to my first ski jumping competition, and to go to my first skating show.

And I thought this year would be perfect, as it would be the last opportunity to see a lot of people (in both sports), as they will be retiring after this Olympic season. :disapp:

But, I had been checking out the www.eisshow.de website all year, and there was no sign of any mention of the gala in Oberstdorf. The only show that I could find any mention of was the other show they put on, at Ingolstadt.

So, that started me thinking that this year’s show had been “put on ice”, because nobody wanted to perform at it with the Olympics coming up.

As it turned out, it was just a case of the Oberstdorf show not being announced until the last minute. By which stage it was too late to get tickets for the ski jumping and book flights. Grrrr!!! So, I’ll be sticking to Eurosport again this year.

But, if anybody else wants to go and is able to make arrangements to get to Oberstdorf, the tickets can be bought from the Oberstdorf website. (And thein lay my problem - I was looking at the promoter's website instead of the venue's!)

As I said above, the Eisgala is again being broadcast on Eurosport. But, I’ll post the full broadcast schedule in this thread nearer the time (we all know what Eurosport is like for changing schedules!)

If anybody is going, I hope you enjoy it! I'm sooooo jealous of you!!!

CaroLiza_fan

Oh if I had known you wanted to go, I could had given you a hand there as I am at Oberstdorf a few times each year and know how the whole ticket sale´s are done.

If you want to go next year let me know and I am sure Ill be able to help you

Caro could still skate at the Eisgala next year, just like Sarah does now. The Eisgala usually has many locals or skaters who did practice at Oberstdorf during their career

Tickets for this year can only be bought by phone and credit card, there are also tickets for the ski jump available - standing tickets for about 40 Euro. But ya, flights could be a problem indeed but also the accommodation.

Thank you so much for that offer Alex D. I might just take you up on it next year.

I realise the organisers don’t want to announce anything until they get all the acts confirmed, but it makes things very difficult for those that are travelling to make arrangements at short notice.

As you say, the accommodation is probably the biggest problem to sort out. I don’t know how many rooms there are in Oberstdorf, but I can imagine that they get booked up months in advance!

But, for those of us that can’t make it, here are the Eurosport broadcast details. All Eurosport versions are showing the Oberstdorf Gala LIVE, but British Eurosport is showing more repeats.

Please note that I have also included the broadcast times for the Courchevel Gala, which is being held today (but unfortunately is not being shown LIVE).

Acts at Courchevel include:

Brian BOITANO
Florent AMODIO
Nathalie PECHALAT / Fabian BOURZAT
Brian JOUBERT
Vanessa JAMES / Morgan CIPRES
Maé-Bérénice MEITE
Pernelle CARRON / Lloyd JONES
Gabriella PAPADAKIS / Guillaume CIZERON
Laurine LECAVELIER
Chafik BESSEGHIER
Ashley CLARK (Ladies Professional World Champion)
Oleksander LIUBCHENKO and Jean-Denis SANCHIS (Acrobats)
Fiona ZALDUA / Dmitry SUKHANOV (Pairs Professional World Champions)
Amaury VASSILI (Opera Singer)
Charlotte WASSY (Singer)

How many of these make it onto the 1 hour highlights on Eurosport remains to be seen...!


I hope this helps fill the gap until American and Canadian Nationals!

CaroLiza_fan


Eurosport Nederland (All times CET)

Monday 30th December 2013
ESP1 13:45 – 14:45 Courchevel Gala
ESP2 21:30 – 23:00 Oberstdorf Gala LIVE
ESP1 23:30 – 01:00 Oberstdorf Gala

Tuesday 31st December 2013
ESP2 09:30 – 11:00 Oberstdorf Gala

Thursday 2nd January 2014
ESP2 04:30 – 06:00 Oberstdorf Gala


Eurosport Deutschland (All times CET)

Monday 30th December 2013
ESP1 13:45 – 14:45 Courchevel Gala
ESP2 21:30 – 23:00 Oberstdorf Gala LIVE
ESP1 23:30 – 01:00 Oberstdorf Gala

Tuesday 31st December 2013
ESP2 09:30 – 11:00 Oberstdorf Gala

Thursday 2nd January 2014
ESP2 04:30 – 06:00 Oberstdorf Gala


Eurosport France (All times CET)

Monday 30th December 2013
ESP2 21:30 – 23:00 Oberstdorf Gala LIVE
ESP1 23:30 – 01:00 Oberstdorf Gala

Tuesday 31st December 2013
ESP2 09:30 – 11:00 Oberstdorf Gala

Thursday 2nd January 2014
ESP2 04:30 – 06:00 Oberstdorf Gala


British Eurosport (All times GMT)

Monday 30th December 2013
BES1 12:45 – 13:45 Courchevel Gala
BES1 19:30 – 20:30 Courchevel Gala
BES1 20:30 – 22:00 Oberstdorf Gala LIVE

Tuesday 31st December 2013
BES2 08:30 – 10:00 Oberstdorf Gala

Wednesday 1st January 2014
BES1 09:45 – 11:15 Oberstdorf Gala
BES1 19:00 – 20:00 Courchevel Gala

Thursday 2nd January 2014
BES2 03:30 – 05:00 Oberstdorf Gala
BES1 14:00 – 15:30 Oberstdorf Gala

Friday 3rd January 2014
BES1 18:15 – 19:45 Oberstdorf Gala
BES1 19:45 – 20:50 Courchevel Gala

Sunday 4th January 2014
BES1 19:50 – 21:20 Oberstdorf Gala

Monday 5th January 2014
BES2 18:00 – 19:00 Courchevel Gala

Thanks for the schedule!

I really don't understand Eurosport, in this case especially British Eurosport. As far as I know the Oberstdorf Gala starts at 20:00 CET but Eurosport is scheduled to broadcast it from 21:30 CET which means we will only get to see the second half if they don't change their schedule. In Hungary there are other live events scheduled before the Obertsdorf Gala. In this case I can understand why they would only show the second half. But not in the case of British Eurosport. They want to show the Courchevel Gala during the first half of the Oberstdorf Gala! And it's not even like this is the only time when they plan to show the Courchevel Gala! Why can't they broadcast the whole Oberstdorf Gala instead? I really hope they will reconsider this until tomorrow!

Thanks for the information! I envy Europeans: they have so many interesting ice shows and seemingly wonderful coverage on Eurosport. I hope that whoever watches it, whether live or televised, will give us some account of it.

Olympia said:

Thanks for the information! I envy Europeans: they have so many interesting ice shows and seemingly wonderful coverage on Eurosport. I hope that whoever watches it, whether live or televised, will give us some account of it.

Click to expand...

Just a wee reminder for those that want to watch the first showing of the Courcheval Gala, it will be starting in about 15 minutes on Eurosport 1.

Here is a livestream link:

Eurosport 1 International

I'm going to tape it and watch later, as I want to watch the news in case there are any more updates on Michael Schumacher.

CaroLiza_fan

CaroLiza_fan said:

Just a wee reminder for those that want to watch the first showing of the Courcheval Gala, it will be starting in about 15 minutes on Eurosport 1.

Here is a livestream link:

Eurosport 1 International

I'm going to tape it and watch later, as I want to watch the news in case there are any more updates on Michael Schumacher.

CaroLiza_fan

Click to expand...

I'm watching right now !.
I'm sending positive thoughts to Michael Schumacher. A true legend.

There are already videos uploaded from the Courchevel Gala on Youtube by two users: http://www.youtube.com/user/SilviaGranata94/videos and http://www.youtube.com/user/bimbett/videos .

There are videos of programs among them that weren't shown on Eurosport but there are other programs that were shown on Eurosport and are not uploaded yet. So I think there's more to come.

Videos of the Courchevel Gala recorded from Eurosport have been uploaded on Youtube by this user: http://www.youtube.com/user/frida340/videos
According to our commentator Eurosport showed the second half of the Gala (more or less).

Fiona Zaldua / Dmitry Sukhanov
Mae Berenice Meite
Vanessa James / Morgan Cipres
Ashley Clark
Brian Joubert
Florent Amodio
Group number
Nathalie Pechalat / Fabian Bourzat
Brian Boitano
Finale

Other videos recorded from a French TV channel:

Gabriella Papadakis / Guillaume Cizeron
Pernelle Carron / Lloyd Jones
Nathalie Pechalat / Fabian Bourzat 2
Brian Boitano 2
Brian Joubert 2
Mae Berenice Meite 2
Vanessa James / Morgan Cipres 2
Florent Amodio 2
Alexander Liubchenko / Jean-Denis Sanchis
Chafik Besseghier

MidnightSkater said:

I'm watching right now !.
I'm sending positive thoughts to Michael Schumacher. A true legend.

Click to expand...

You're not the only one - here's a message from Ingo, Aljona and Robin:

https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd....20x720/994431_262293560586882_709621252_n.jpg


Just a wee reminder that the second showing of Courchevel is about to start on British Eurosport 1, and will be followed in an hour by LIVE coverage of Oberstdorf

British Eurosport 1 livestream

EDIT: Change of schedule - LIVE coverage of Oberstdorf is on Eurosport 2 International NOW (19:30 GMT):

Eurosport 2 International livestream

WHY IS BRITISH 1 STILL SHOWING A REPEAT OF COURCHEVEL INSTEAD OF LIVE OBERSTDORF???!!!

CaroLiza_fan

Videos of the Oberstdorf Gala:

Opening
Lorenza Alessandrini / Simone Vaturi 1
Sarah Meier 1
Yukina Ota 1
Elladj Balde 1
Fiona Zaldua / Dmitry Sukhanov 1
Margarita Drobiazko / Povilas Vanagas 1
Emanuel Sandhu 1
Stefania Berton / Ondrej Hotarek 1
Ilia Kulik 1
Carolina Kostner 1
Annabelle Prölss / Ruben Blommaert
Yukina Ota 2
Elladj Balde 2
Lorenza Alessandrini / Simone Vaturi 2
Fiona Zaldua / Dmitry Sukhanov 2
Emanuel Sandhu 2
Sarah Meier 2
Viktoria - aerial performance
Margarita Drobiazko / Povilas Vanagas 2
Stefania Berton / Ondrej Hotarek 2
Ilia Kulik 2
Carolina Kostner 2
Finale

Bea said:

Videos of the Oberstdorf Gala

Click to expand...

Thank you for the links Bea, and thank you to Frida for uploading the videos. The first half videos in particular will be greatly appreciated to those that could only watch on British Eurosport.


Now for a few comments about some of the performers from my viewpoint.

Firstly Courchevel.

I have to admit, I was a bit underwhelmed with Mae-Berenice Meite. Although, that might be because she was shown directly after Fiona Zaldua and Dmitry Sukhanov! (More of them when we come to Oberstdorf).

During Russian Nationals, there were members complaining about certain routines having a lack of content. That is how I felt about Meite's performance. It sounds really bad, but for me the highlight of this routine was Charlotte Wassy's singing (I'm going to keep an eye out for her from now on - she was really good!)

I LOVED the singing from Amaury Vassili during Vanessa and Morgan's routine! But, then again, I have always loved listening to male Opera singers (and, just for the record, I can't stand female opera singers!) The skating wasn't too bad, either!

Ashley Clark. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't want to take fire onto an ice rink. Like, ice melts! But, when you put that to one side, boys but it was impressive!

Brian Joubert - what a production that was that his routine started with! But, again, I was disappointed with the routine itself. Brian normally throws everything including the kitchen sink into his galas. But he didn't this time. And, consequently, we were left wanting.

Thank goodness Amodio was up next! As usual, he didn't disappoint.

I loved the group performance! And I don't know about anybody else, but I couldn't take my eyes off Vanessa James!

But, I was a bit annoyed that the cameraman didn't even try to get Gabriella Papadakis in shot during the group routine. Like, surely the cameraman could have zoomed out just a little bit to get her in. I felt really sorry for Gabriella - she went to the bother of doing the gala, and barely got onto the TV highlights at all!

Nathalie and Fabian - loved the routine, but I still think the "People Are Strange" gala would have gone down very well! But, I suppose they thought "people are bound to be getting fed up with it"

Brian Boitano. Now, I know Brian has a lot of fans here ,and he is not getting any younger. But, during his routine, I was thinking "sorry Brian, but you've been out of the game for too long." I would have preferred to have kept the image of Brian 25 years ago in my head, rather than the Brian we saw at Courchevel at the weekend.


Then we got to Oberstdorf, and saw Ilya Kulik. And he just blew everybody out of the water! Both his routines were unbelievable! The only disappointment was that Katia did not suddenly appear out of the audience, and join in with him on the ice!

I was very annoyed when Sarah Meier announced she was retiring after winning Euros, as I felt she still had a lot more to give. And after seeing her 3 years on, I am more convinced than ever! No disrespect to the girls that have represented Switzerland the past few years, but even now Sarah is still in a different league. Hopefully now that they have Anna Ovcharova, things will pick up for Switzerland.

I have to admit, I had forgotten all about Yukina Ota before she appeared at Oberstdorf. And she just reminded up what we have been missing. She is another one that still has it! Still trying to get my head around the fact that she is younger than Suzuki, though...

Elladj Balde - what can you say? A born entertainer! I just love every gala routine I've seen him do! He just makes them so funny!

Fiona Zaldua / Dmitry Sukhanov. These pair never fail to impress - no wonder they are so much in demand! The first routine at Oberstdorf was the same that was shown in the Courchevel highlights. And even though I had seen it only a matter of hours earlier, it was still amazing! But, I wonder what competition judges would make of their costumes...

Margarita Drobiazko / Povilas Vanagas. The record holders for the most Olympic appearances in figure skating. And now that I've seen them, I can understand why. 8 years since they retired, and they have not lost it at all! If Tobias and Stagniūnas had to pull out of the Sochi Olympics for whatever reason, I could imagine this couple standing in, and still finishing in the top 10!

Annabelle Prölss / Ruben Blommaert. Unfortunately I haven't seen the whole routine (I had left the livestreaming during the interval, but didn't realise that British Eurosport were going to be joining the 2nd half a bit late! And they hadn't been uploaded yet when I was on YouTube yesterday). But, is it my imagination, or has Annabelle grown a lot since the last time I saw them? The height difference to Ruben doesn't seem as much as it was at the Nebelhorn!


Overall, although we didn't get to see all of the Courchevel Gala, I definitely enjoyed Oberstdorf more.

CaroLiza_fan

CaroLiza_fan, I've edited my post with the list of videos from the Courchevel Gala and added in the other videos that weren't shown on Eurosport. Nathalie and Fabian did their People are strange routine too, it was just not shown on Eurosport.

And you can watch Annabelle and Ruben's gala number too because someone else has uploaded it on Youtube. It's on my list of videos.

I don't know what you think but I was surprised that only Annabelle and Ruben participated in the Gala from Germany. Last year at least the half of the participants were from Germany. I guess it has something to do with their Olympic preparation. But still, even Elladj Balde flew to Germany, when he soon has the Canadian Nationals! The Germans wouldn't have had to bother with much travelling.

CarolLiza_fan, thanks for the review! It's great to know that people like Ilia, Sarah Meier, Ota, and Drobiazko/Vanagas are still compelling to watch. I'm sorry that Brian disappointed you. Perhaps he had an off day? In any case, I'm glad there were so many satisfying programs to watch.