Original Dance

Poor Denkova!!!!!

This cold she has must be hitting her hard.

Albena Denkova and Maxim Staviski are currently in 4th place with Delobel and Schoenfelder still to go

Ouch!

While N&K are pretty much untouchable at this point, C&S, Den&Sta, and Del&Sch are basically at a tie, with a little over a point betwen the Israilies and the French; the next team, F&S, are a full 7 points behind. So it's really up to the FS.

Glad Kulikova & Novikov moved up a little. They're always weak at compulsories - I think TT gets bored teaching them. At the very least, I hope they don't lose ground from last season.

Here are the standings after the OD:

http://www.isufs.org/results/ec2005/CAT004RS.HTM

I watched the OD and I have to say my top six would have been in completely different order!! I am really finding it hard to see how this COP has changed anything at all

N/K skated a crisp and clean OD but for my money it was ordinary and didn't really push the boundaries in any way, it didn't really seem original to me at all. Plus she gets my vote for a rusty hanger award due to the fact that her costumes appear to get smaller and smaller each year and this year she had outrageous feathers on the skirt that moulted everywhere!!!

G/G again skated quite well and quite an enjoyable routine, technically difficult but they sacrificed speed for difficulty so step sequences were quite slow.

C/S have to be carful here because these are not a couple I like, I find them rough and unpolished but technically it was good.

D/S she had a hard time because she is suffering from bronchitis and it is doubtful whether they will skate in the Free or not. Difficult program and skated as well as could be expected under the circumstances, however I felt they had done enough to stay ahead of the Israelis.

Del/Sch Okay I have to say that I feel these two wuz robbed!! They skated a fabulous program, difficult footwork, deep clean edges, good lifts and kept the speed all the way through. Really felt these two deserved to be in the top three after the OD and my personal opinion is that they could justifiably have been in first. However what to I know because apparently they had a technical error in their program and incurred a deduction which is why they dropped! I'm afraid the judges must have been the only ones to see it though!


Further down the field the Kerr's skated a lovely routine, really had the feel of the music and the interpretation was excellant and they were rewarded by dropping behind the Russian number two's who IMO were not good and did not justify their jump from tenth to eighth today.

So in short I am thoroughly confused and so far disillusioned by what I have seen of this new system. :sheesh:

Living in the States, I have not seen the competition, but so far I am shocked by the results. I just can't believe that Denkova/Staviyski were fifth in the OD, even with her being ill!! Between this and their poor placement at the GP Final, it's clear the ISU political machine has suddenly turned against them. But the question is, why.

And diverchick, I was interested to see your comments about Delobel/Schoenfelder. I personally have felt all season that this team has been severely undermarked and should be in the top three or four in the world. I was very disappointed they came in last in the GP Final. In fact I've enjoyed their dancing more than anyone's this year, and that includes Navka/Kostomarov.

I wish that someone--anyone--could explain this judging to me.

diver chick said:

I watched the OD and I have to say my top six would have been in completely different order!! I am really finding it hard to see how this COP has changed anything at all

Click to expand...

Well -- it's changed things from the perspective that in the past, under the old system, the top 5 would probably pretty much be in the exact same order after the OD as they were going into it. So I guess one could say, the system is still screwed, it just may be screwed in an entirely different way. At least the shuffling in the standings is finally making Dance competitions a little more exciting, if nothing else.

eyria said:

Between this and their poor placement at the GP Final, it's clear the ISU political machine has suddenly turned against them. But the question is, why..

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Making the assumption that it has -- bear in mind, Albena was the one behind that petition that went around at the 02 Worlds questioning the judging that put Chait/Sakhnovsky on the podium. Given that, I was surprised that they picked up any ground in the international rankings at all after that. I have no doubt that judges hold grudges.....

From the rumors I've heard (again, emphasizing rumors, not facts), Russian federation is pulling out all the stops to ensure N&K win in Turin. D&S are the main obstacle. Therefore, there is a lot of "cajoling" going on to make the judges see the superiority of N&K and the inferiority of D&S.

What on earth IS a "Rhythm Combination" anyway??