2023 Denkova-Staviski Cup | Nov 7-12

[gsk8]

The 2023 Denkova-Staviski Cup will take place Nov 7-12, 2023, in Sofia, Bulgaria. The event will feature the Singles (Women and Men) discipline in the Novice, Junior and Senior categories, and will be conducted in accordance with the 2022 ISU Constitution and General Regulations, the ISU Special Regulations & Technical Rules for Single & Pair Skating and relevant ISU Communications.

• Official Site
• ISU Event Page
• Announcement
• Entries/Results

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

The Entries / Results page for the ISU part of the event may not be up yet, but the Entries / Results page for the Non-ISU part is:

http://cup.clubdenkovastaviski.com/2023/NonISU/

And if there is a stream, I will be seeing the new Advanced Novice skater for Cyprus for the first time a week earlier than I thought I would be!

Vayana Hristova is competing in Advanced Novices, so I would expect big sister Chiara to be in action in Juniors. They quite frequently go to the same events.

@norwegianfairytale - another skater listed in Advanced Novices is Ella Celine Risa GOMEZ. I take that she is Mia Caroline's sister. If so, that may be an indication that Mia Caroline will be here too.

Hopefully it will not be long until we find out.

CaroLiza_fan

 

[norwegianfairytale]

The Entries / Results page for the ISU part of the event may not be up yet, but the Entries / Results page for the Non-ISU part is:

http://cup.clubdenkovastaviski.com/2023/NonISU/

And if there is a stream, I will be seeing the new Advanced Novice skater for Cyprus for the first time a week earlier than I thought I would be!

Vayana Hristova is competing in Advanced Novices, so I would expect big sister Chiara to be in action in Juniors. They quite frequently go to the same events.

@norwegianfairytale - another skater listed in Advanced Novices is Ella Celine Risa GOMEZ. I take that she is Mia Caroline's sister. If so, that may be an indication that Mia Caroline will be here too.

Hopefully it will not be long until we find out.

CaroLiza_fan

It´s Mia little sister, you are correct I had to check, and this will actually be Ellas first international competition, how exciting for her!!
The Norwegian Skating Union has an own development team (Rekruttlaget) to help promising skater get better and aiming in the long term to go the big competitions. Ella is currently one of the new skaters on the team. When this project started a few years ago, Mia was one of the first skaters on the first team ever, and I think it´s safe to say it worked.

Btw, if you curious about the family resemblance you can see both Mia and Ella with pictures on this page, Ella is further down the page, but I think it´s easy to see they are sisters
https://www.skoyteforbundet.no/kunstlop/forbundslag-kunstlop-2023-2024/

I´m not sure about the age difference between Ella and Mia, what I know is that Ella started competing only in 2021, and last season she competed in debs, before only moving up to novice this season. So she has only been competing like 3 years?! I do have a feeling Ella didn´t start very early with skating, but she for sure must have wanted to try it out as well and got inspired by her sister. Well, Mia herself didn´t start to skate before the age of 8, so maybe it´s around the same age, which is actually a bit late in figure skating. That would perhaps not be so far off because I have a feeling Ella must be around the age of 12.
Ella is already very tall, I think she might be taller or get taller then Mia at some point, at this picture you can see how tall she is already, Ella is in the right end of this picture:



Ella has been spending a lot of weeks this summer on the same camps as Mia, like several weeks on Peak Ice Camp. It seems the parents do invest the same in their skating, all though Mia is on a higher level. I think that is great!

I did see Ella was included with an exclusive groups of skaters when Lorenzo Magri did some coaching/workshops on camps in Norway. Along with Mia, the Joos-sisters etc. Lorenzo is listed as one of Mia coaches on the ISU bio, and it makes me wonder if he is maybe also co-coaching her sister Ella as well. If there is a stream with graphics we might find out.

Needless to say, Ella seems to be following Mias footsteps, and from what I have seen, she seems to be talented as well, it looks like she likes to perform a lot. She does only jump doubles yet as far as I know, but since she only competed for 3 years that is not odd at all. I do hope Ella will be at JGP in a few years time.

Sorry, that was very long about Mias sister, and yes, I think you are right that Mia is going too. She was listed on the webpage along with Linnea Kilsand and Frida Berge for this competition, but the information was updated a long time ago. I hope they are still planning to go. Mia is the last years silver medalist at Denkova Staviski Cup, so maybe she wants to defend the silver or climb higher I´m hoping we will see the entries soon. Last year of course, Alexandra Feigin was there since this is in Bulgaria, and possible at her home rink?

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Sorry, that was very long about Mias sister

No need to apologise. It was an extremely interesting read.

Now that I have seen photos of Ella, there is no question that she is Mia's sister. They are VERY alike! And by the sounds of things, their skating careers have been very alike too. That is amazing that Ella has only been competing for 3 years. The Fed must have seen something special in her to take her onto their development programme when she is so inexperienced compared to other girls her age. There's clearly something in the genes!

Hearing her story, I hope things go well for her in her first international competition. It must be daunting. But, at least she'll have her sister with her, who can provide support and encouragement. And maybe a bit of competition on the side (for example, whoever finishes higher in their category gets a treat! Or whoever finishes lower has to do something for their sister!)

Oh, I really hope there is a stream. Because after reading about Ella, I really want to see how she gets on.

The Bulgarian Fed normally streams the Denkova-Staviski Cup on their own YouTube channel, so let's hope they do it again this year:

https://www.youtube.com/@bsf-of9rc8ic2e

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Day 1 of the Denkova-Staviski Cup starts with a Chicks double-bill. A group of 6 boys, followed by 24 girls.

Livestream for the Chicks Men's FS is now on air.

Here is the link for the livestream:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMvBtxHdvJw

Here is the Time Schedule:
http://cup.clubdenkovastaviski.com/...BASNOV--02FNL-000100--_StartListwithTimes.pdf

And here is the live scoring:
http://cup.clubdenkovastaviski.com/2023/NonISU/SEG003.htm

Hope this helps

ALL THE BEST EVERYBODY!!!

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Our little cowboy from last season is still a little cowboy this season!!!



Mind you, I think I would have preferred it if he had been the first skater of the day, like he was so many times last year. Hearing the "Magnificient Seven" theme is always a good way to kick off the day's action.

He goes into the lead, ahead of all his compatriots. Now for the three Turks.

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

And the first of the Turkish skaters is skating to "Eye Of The Tiger"!!!

Can these little boys continue the run of great music?!

Yes they can! "Earth Song" into "Smooth Criminal" now!!!

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Our Chicks double-bill concludes now with the girls. There was supposed to be 24 of them, arranged into a group of 8 girls; followed by a resurfacing; followed by two groups of 8 girls. However, skater #11 has withdrawn from Group 2. So, we are down to 7 girls in Group 2, and 23 girls altogether.

Livestream for the Chicks Ladies FS is now on air.

Here is the link for the livestream:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMvBtxHdvJw

Here is the Time Schedule:
http://cup.clubdenkovastaviski.com/...BASNOV--05FNL-000100--_StartListwithTimes.pdf

And here is the live scoring:
http://cup.clubdenkovastaviski.com/2023/NonISU/SEG009.htm

Hope this helps

ALL THE BEST EVERYBODY!!!

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

The first of the girls is wearing a jumpsuit where the whole of the left hand side is solid black, and the whole of the right hand side is solid white. Even down to her hairband. (She has black hair).

It is so surreal. It looks like we only have half a skater on the ice.

And no, she was not skating to Michael Jackson; she was skating to "Unstoppable" by Sia. So, I suppose you could say that the outfit ties in with the way Sia had her hair in the video (albeit the opposite way around). But even so.

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

As soon as the first girl after the resurfacing came out, I thought "It's either the Pink Panther or Barbie".

Then the music started, and it was the familiar sound of Aqua!

Not sure she'll be in the mood to go party after going into last position, though.

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Nooooo!!!!!!!!

The penultimate skater, a Turkish girl, fell just after she started her programme, and she hurt herself. She was sitting there on the ice for a long time bawling her eyes out. It is never nice to see skaters crying, but it is all the more upsetting to see when it is kids this young.

Eventually she got up and went over to the boards and got consoled, and then went out and had another go. Understandably, she was taking things very canny and easy.

But, you should have heard the cheers for her went she went back out. And then again when she finished. And there were loads of cuddly toys thrown down for her. Well done to the audience for giving her this much support.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, she went into last position.



CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

We've had a Chicks double-bill, and now it is time for a Cubs triple-bill. A group of 4 boys; followed by 13 younger girls; followed by 22 older girls.

Livestream for the Cubs Men's FS is now on air.

Here is the link for the livestream:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMvBtxHdvJw

Here is the Time Schedule:
http://cup.clubdenkovastaviski.com/...BASNOV--01FNL-000100--_StartListwithTimes.pdf

And here is the live scoring:
http://cup.clubdenkovastaviski.com/2023/NonISU/SEG002.htm

Hope this helps

ALL THE BEST EVERYBODY!!!

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Continuing our Cubs triple-bill, we move from the boys to a girls double-bill. First up we have 13 younger girls, arranged into a group of 6; followed by a group of 7.

Livestream for the Cubs II Ladies FS is now on air.

Here is the link for the livestream:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMvBtxHdvJw

Here is the Time Schedule:
http://cup.clubdenkovastaviski.com/...BASNOV--03FNL-000100--_StartListwithTimes.pdf

And here is the live scoring:
http://cup.clubdenkovastaviski.com/2023/NonISU/SEG007.htm

Hope this helps

ALL THE BEST EVERYBODY!!!

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

We complete our Cubs triple-bill with 22 older girls, arranged into two groups of 7; followed by a group of 8. Resurfacings before and after the competition; none during the competition. (Maybe just as well, as we are currently 30 minutes behind schedule!)

Livestream for the Cubs I Ladies FS is now on air.

Here is the link for the livestream:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMvBtxHdvJw

Here is the Time Schedule:
http://cup.clubdenkovastaviski.com/...BASNOV--04FNL-000100--_StartListwithTimes.pdf

And here is the live scoring:
http://cup.clubdenkovastaviski.com/2023/NonISU/SEG008.htm

Hope this helps

ALL THE BEST EVERYBODY!!!

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

The final skater in Group 2 was called Beatris. Could she be named after @NoNameFace? (I'm not sure when @ancientpeas gave NNF that name, but if it was before the end of June 2014, then it is possible!)

And Group 3 is starting off with a skater that I have been keeping an eye on for a few years. And it all started because I was intrigued by her surname. It is the female version of Chris Boyadji's surname. To cut a long story short, if it wasn't for Elitsa, I would never have found out that "Boyadji" is actually a Bulgarian surname.

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Now that the Cubs triple-bill is over, we end the day with an Advanced Novice SP double-bill. A group of 2 Italian boys; followed by 26 girls.

Livestream for the Advanced Novice Men's SP is now on air.

Here is the link for the livestream:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMvBtxHdvJw

Here is the Time Schedule:
http://cup.clubdenkovastaviski.com/...ADVNOV----QUAL000100--_StartListwithTimes.pdf

And here is the live scoring:
http://cup.clubdenkovastaviski.com/2023/NonISU/SEG010.htm

Hope this helps

ALL THE BEST EVERYBODY!!!

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

And quick on the heels of the boys are the girls. There were supposed to be 26 of them, arranged into two groups of 6; followed by a resurfacing; followed by two groups of 7. However, the skaters topping and tailing Group 3 have withdrawn. So, we are down to 5 girls in Group 3, and 24 altogether.

Livestream for the Advanced Novice Ladies SP is now on air.

Here is the link for the livestream:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMvBtxHdvJw

Here is the Time Schedule:
http://cup.clubdenkovastaviski.com/...ADVNOV----QUAL000100--_StartListwithTimes.pdf

And here is the live scoring:
http://cup.clubdenkovastaviski.com/2023/NonISU/SEG012.htm

Hope this helps

ALL THE BEST EVERYBODY!!!

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Thank goodness Varvara was wearing her Team Cyprus jacket during the Warm-Up, because I didn't know what she looked like going into this event!

She tended to be doing her jumps at the far corner of the rink to where the camera was, so it was hard to see how they were going.

But she and the Serbian girl that skated before her seemed to be tiny compared to the other girls in the group.

Anyway, here she is now.

ALL THE BEST VARVARA!!!

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Beautiful Royal Blue dress and matching stickings, both with lots of sparklies.

Don't know the music, but I like it.

Came a bit too close to the camera for my liking in the lead in to her first jump. But it went very well, so no complaints!

Combination was beautiful. As were the spins she did after it.

In fact, everything was beautiful. I didn't spot any mistakes.

Oh, boys but Cyprus have a couple of little firecrackers coming through in Varvara and Oliviia!

She goes into the lead with a score of 35.00. But, because it's so early in the competition, we will have to wait until later to tell how good that is.

But, it looked great to me!

WELL DONE VARVARA!!!

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

I love ABBA, but I always think that a skater is tempting fate by skating to "The Winner Takes It All". So, I was worried when it came on for the first of the local skaters, Martina PEYCHEVA.

But, no need to worry just yet. She goes into 3rd.

CaroLiza_fan