Nordic skating (FIN, SWE, NOR, DEN, ISL)

[TT_Fin]

I have thought to open this thread for a while. Because there are separate Nordic championships Nordic Open and these countries make the own area Nordic countries, I try if people are interested to discuss about these countries'skating under their open thread.

Finland has a wide representation in junior women while there are already eight of them who could compete JWC 2023 because of getting both TES scores during last season. I think one reason is the success of Finnish ladies when these girls were babies.

The situation in men better than some years ago, because there are now more than one competing about the spots in bigger competitions.

To be continued later...

 

[TT_Fin]

Congralutions for Andreas Nordeback for JGP Czech Skate bronze medal. Sweden has a future in men.

 

[norwegianfairytale]

Thank you for making this thread, it´s a very good idea, I have missed something like this and I try my best to share my knowledge about Norwegian skaters Also I can help out with information about other countries, as I understand both Danish and Swedish.

 

[norwegianfairytale]

A little (or long) update about the Norwegian junior skaters:

In ladies Norway have 3 spots in JGP this season, for the first time in a long time because Mia skated at JWC:

Pernille With has the spot for JGP Riga next week.
Mia Risa Gomez has got the spot for JGP Gdansk 1
Oda Havgar Tønnesen got the spot for JGP Egna.

Norway is not using their 2 spots in JGP men, all though we have two skaters in junior now. Daniil Valanov and Francis Sutton. Probably they havn´t fulfilled the requirements from the fed or they don´t feel prepared. I would think it´s likely though that we will see at least one of them in JGP next season, at least I hope so. I think the most difficult element both of them have is 3S from what I have seen, so I really hope they will develop further or I don´t think we will see much of the Norwegian men in the upcoming championships. Francis spent time on Peak Ice camp this summer though, but I think he had some injuries issues last season, because he was barely competing and he had a very big growth spurt as well. He was really promising, but not much have happen the last two season technically, so I hope he hasn´t peaked or given up. He is the best performer of the two of them. The mens field is looking a bit bleak at the moment, on the other side Sondre mostly competed against himself, so having two men skaters in junior is a step in the right direction.

A little introduction about Pernille With who is going to Riga next week:

This will be her first debut as junior skater! She just joined the junior team, born in 2007. She is the current National champion in Novice, also claiming the highest Novice score in Norway for ladies this spring with 115.01 points. She also got a bronze in Nordics, gold in Reykjavik Games and silver in Coupe de Printemps and Open Andorra last season in the Advanced Novice class. Technically she is a very promising skater for Norway. Her best element is 2A, and her signature is 2A-3T. I havn´t seen her jumping 3F or 3Lz yet, but she might be working on it. She got the other triples, she usually does 3S-2T as SP combo. It will be very interesting to see how she will do in JGP and how the judges will mark her. I think her strength is more technical than performance, and that she will have the character of a novice skater, so I don´t expect her to get high scores next week. She still has the same SP as last season. She doesn´t seem to get nervous though, so I don´t think that would affect her.

 

[TT_Fin]

As previous years, Finland has made lists about best scores and skaters who have reached the TES scores. There are no mentioned which
So I put links only, to keep the situation will be up to date when there is something to show on this post.

The technical scores achieved by Finnish skaters without specifying which competition they are sufficient for.

Yksiluistelu= Singles, pariluistelu = pairs, jäätanssi = ID, lyhytohjelma = SP, vapaaohjelma = FS.

TES scores for JWC, EC and WC

So far there are more statistics, but I will edit this post when I notice there are more. When I write this, there are only Oona Ounasvuosi, who has both TES in senior women for WC, both ID pairs, and no men or pairs.

I will edit this later.

 

[norwegianfairytale]

As previous years, Finland has made lists about best scores and skaters who have reached the TES scores. There are no mentioned which
So I put links only, to keep the situation will be up to date when there is something to show on this post.

The technical scores achieved by Finnish skaters without specifying which competition they are sufficient for.

Yksiluistelu= Singles, pariluistelu = pairs, jäätanssi = ID, lyhytohjelma = SP, vapaaohjelma = FS.

TES scores for JWC, EC and WC

So far there are more statistics, but I will edit this post when I notice there are more. When I write this, there are only Oona Ounasvuosi, who has both TES in senior women for WC, both ID pairs, and no men or pairs.

I will edit this later.

Oh wow, I thought more had it. What about Linnea Ceder? She didn´t get it Nordics last season? I guess Emmi Peltonen had it before, but she didn´t compete much before her surgery last season. I´m sure more will get it, who of the junior skaters might do some senior events this year?

I hope Dr. Valter can manage to get the minimum for WC again, i´m very glad he is still competing! If he can land the quad and 3A in the FS, and not mess up the other triples, it´s completely possible for him. Also it´s Makar. Roman did retire, didn´t he?

 

[Andrea82]

Oh wow, I thought more had it. What about Linnea Ceder? She didn´t get it Nordics last season? I guess Emmi Peltonen had it before, but she didn´t compete much before her surgery last season. I´m sure more will get it, who of the junior skaters might do some senior events this year?

ISU raised the WC minimums from 30 (SP) and 51 (FS) to 32/53
Ceder has 31.67 in the SP.

Peltonen and Saarinen have the SP minimum but they need the FS one
Ceder and Lisko have the FS minimum but not the SP one.

 

[TT_Fin]

Oh wow, I thought more had it. What about Linnea Ceder? She didn´t get it Nordics last season? I guess Emmi Peltonen had it before, but she didn´t compete much before her surgery last season. I´m sure more will get it, who of the junior skaters might do some senior events this year?

I hope Dr. Valter can manage to get the minimum for WC again, i´m very glad he is still competing! If he can land the quad and 3A in the FS, and not mess up the other triples, it´s completely possible for him. Also it´s Makar. Roman did retire, didn´t he?

My guess is that Nella Pelkonen, who we saw already at first JGP competition, will do seniors because she planned to take part in senior at nats but she got ill just before. Janna Jyrkinen, 15, has been already announced to compete at the Lombardia Trophy.

For JWC there are already eight girls who have got the TES and I am sure there will be more. Linnea's name is on the last season's list, but she is too old to compete there anymore.

Laura Karhunen has retired, so you can ignore her name on last season's list.

 

[TT_Fin]

I hope Dr. Valter can manage to get the minimum for WC again, i´m very glad he is still competing! If he can land the quad and 3A in the FS, and not mess up the other triples, it´s completely possible for him. Also it´s Makar. Roman did retire, didn´t he?

Abouot the men: Roman retired, yes. And then there is Arttu Juusola, who made a huge improvement last season - he lived because of her father's job in Malaysia until he was 9 yo and started skating only then- I feel like he came just "from nowhere" almost direct to the national team. He seems to be trying 3A. Makar is able to do it, but has not done it clean in competition, has tried it in nats. But because there are now several men competing, they need to something more than just to appear at place. Viveca's little brother Matias is born March 2007, so also he is now also age eligible to compete in seniors, if he wants to.

 

[TT_Fin]

Is this 2A-3lo Janna Jyrkinen what Janna Jyrkinen does at her instagram?
https://www.instagram.com/p/CWvlZraDja0/?hl=fi
It is not very common combination, I do not remember myself ever seen it at competitions.

 

[formersk8ter]

Is this 2A-3lo Janna Jyrkinen what Janna Jyrkinen does at her instagram?
https://www.instagram.com/p/CWvlZraDja0/?hl=fi
It is not very common combination, I do not remember myself ever seen it at competitions.

You are correct: 2A-3Lo is very rare. Even more rare that she does a 5-jump combination in that video!

 

[norwegianfairytale]

Norways only ice dance team got a bronze at Challenge Cup Ice Dance this weekend (US competition). It´s only their second competition together, and they had a lot of challenges the last two years with being apart because of covid (James in US and Maria in Norway) and Maria had a small heart surgery last year or something (she ended her career as single skater because of heart disease and has a pacemaker).

I´m really happy they finally start competing and got a bronze. They increased the FS with 10 points from the first competition!

Edit: If this would have counted as TES minimum for Championship (I don´t think it does), Maria and James would have gotten the required TES minimum for Worlds! They just passed 33 points in the SP and 49 in the FS. Now the Norwegian skating union better send them to an international competition, even if the scores was inflated, this is an indication that EC minimums should be in reach.

 

[TT_Fin]

Bronze to Andreas Nordeback at Finlandia Trophy. she seems to be gradually taking the place of Sweden's number one male skater. I am happy to see there is now more than one man in international competitions from Finland and Sweden, hope that there will come somebody from Norway and other countries too. Finland has been investing to get boys interested in FS with special camps and tournees for boys.

 

[norwegianfairytale]

Euro ticket is looking good for Andreas, but since Nationals is in December, it might have something to say regarding the Euro spot. It really depends on the associations selection criteria. I remember Camilla Gjersem got the EC once based on that she placed above Anne Line Gjersem at Nationals, all though Anne Line had better results internationally that season. I´m not sure how it works in Sweden though, I think it makes much more sense to base it on results previous competitions as well, isn´t Finland doing something like that?

 

[TT_Fin]

Euro ticket is looking good for Andreas, but since Nationals is in December, it might have something to say regarding the Euro spot. It really depends on the associations selection criteria. I remember Camilla Gjersem got the EC once based on that she placed above Anne Line Gjersem at Nationals, all though Anne Line had better results internationally that season. I´m not sure how it works in Sweden though, I think it makes much more sense to base it on results previous competitions as well, isn´t Finland doing something like that?

Finlands rule is clear: The spot goes to person, who has best scores counted together from two best competitions. One competition can be nationals or qualification to nationals, but another one must be an international ISU one, or both can be international. At least one competition should be GP or CS competition in seniors, but they can consider to accept some other international competitions. They have had this rule for some years now and I think it is fair. Only problem is that if skater gets good scores in the beginning of the season and has disaster skaters later, skater can still get the spot. This is what happened last season, Jenni Saarinen had good skates in the beginning of the season, but not later, but according to rules she got all the spots to EC, Olys and WC, though there were other skaters who did better in second half of the season and had the minimums also.

Janna Jyrkinen got today FS minimums in women, but she still needs SP minimums. She is just 15, so she has time, but I have noticed she is going to compete only in seniors this season.

 

[norwegianfairytale]

As for the Norwegian boys, there was an interesting domestic competition this weekend. Scores here.

I did mention in another thread that is seems that a former junior American skater, Jan William Eraker, is most likely changing countrys to Norway. He did never compete internationally for US, so I guess a release would be no problem. By the looks from his Instagram-account, his mother is most likely Norwegian so I think he has a dual citizenship as well. No official information that he has changed though. His name was on the entries list for senior men this weekend, representing the skating club in Oslo. This was his senior debut. I think this is a great move as Norway doesn´t have any senior skater now and he is not competitive in US.

Jan William scored 39.99 in the SP, TES 16.76 and PCS 23.30. In the FS 76.06, TES around 30.00 and 45.00 in PCS. Overall score 116, which is a new PB. He is also entered for a domestic competition in November.

His technical layout isn´t the strongest, he only went for 3S in both SP and FS, but I have seen video of him practice other triples as well, and he seems to land them but struggle with rotations, so I guess it´s a matter of time before he will try more triples in his programs. I hope he does, because he still has a way to go to even be able to get the TES minimum for EC.

I´m not sure if we will see him in international competitions soon, I have read the requirements from the associations, and they have very strict requirements as well to get international assignments, so those triples are going to be the key. Also he seems to not have a 2A either, which I´m pretty sure is minimum requirement from the association. But if he is doing triples in practice, 2A can´t be that far away. What is good though is that he got level 4 on spins, so he seems to be a good spinner, and his PCS isn´t all that bad considering his level. If he can figure out those triples, I think he at least can fill in the spot for Norway at EC perhaps next season. But I think looking at his technical abilities and his current age, he will most likely not be a skater who qualifies for WC or Olympics. But just having a senior skater in international competition for Norway again would be great.

Francis Sutton was entered in junior men, but WD. I hope he is not injured. I was hoping we would see him in international junior competitions soon, but it´s a bit worrying that he has barely been competing the last two years. He has gotten much taller, so perhaps growth issues. He did compete at Nationals in April. Hopefully he will compete in November.

Daniil Valanov, competing in Novice, is the male skater who is challenging his technical ability the most. In the FS he went for 3S, 3F, 3Lo and 3T. He did not jump them well however, most triples got downgraded or UR, but the fact that he is already attempting them in Novice, gives me hope that he can be competitive for Norway in the future. He did skate in Nordics last season, and he seems to have a lot of fun performing, so he seems to be the Norwegian male skater who is most motivated to get to a top level. However, I hope he get his jumps issues sorted out, because rotations issues cost him a lot. He also has a lot of work to do on PCS and spins, but he is young, so there is a lot of time.

Edit: Not sure why Daniil competed in Novice, he is on the junior team now, but he might have not passed the requirements to advance to juniors in competitions yet

 

[norwegianfairytale]

Finlands rule is clear: The spot goes to person, who has best scores counted together from two best competitions. One competition can be nationals or qualification to nationals, but another one must be an international ISU one, or both can be international. At least one competition should be GP or CS competition in seniors, but they can consider to accept some other international competitions. They have had this rule for some years now and I think it is fair. Only problem is that if skater gets good scores in the beginning of the season and has disaster skaters later, skater can still get the spot. This is what happened last season, Jenni Saarinen had good skates in the beginning of the season, but not later, but according to rules she got all the spots to EC, Olys and WC, though there were other skaters who did better in second half of the season and had the minimums also.

Janna Jyrkinen got today FS minimums in women, but she still needs SP minimums. She is just 15, so she has time, but I have noticed she is going to compete only in seniors this season.

Ahw yes, I guess both ways to select have their weakness. I think it was the same situation with Estonia last season, i´m not sure if the selections was based on early competitions or National competitions, but Eva-Lotta got the Olympic tickets early (was it even decided before the season started?) based on previous results, all though Niina had a much better showing at EC.

I did not know however that WC tickets are also given early based on the top result of the early competitions. So Finland always send the same skaters to EC and WC (depending on minimums)?

Congratz to Janna getting the FS minimum. The good news is, for most skaters SP minimums is easier then the FS minimum, so I´m sure she will get it

We still havn´t heard much about Jenni or Emmi this season. I see Emmi WD from Budapest Trophy, but went back to train in the US, she still has GP later. But what about Jenni? I did notice that she has been posting videos from Finland, watching hockey matches with her BF. It doesn´t seem like she is training much in Oberstdorf at the moment, makes me wondering if we will see her anytime soon...

 

[TT_Fin]

Ahw yes, I guess both ways to select have their weakness. I think it was the same situation with Estonia last season, i´m not sure if the selections was based on early competitions or National competitions, but Eva-Lotta got the Olympic tickets early (was it even decided before the season started?) based on previous results, all though Niina had a much better showing at EC.

I did not know however that WC tickets are also given early based on the top result of the early competitions. So Finland always send the same skaters to EC and WC (depending on minimums)?

Congratz to Janna getting the FS minimum. The good news is, for most skaters SP minimums is easier then the FS minimum, so I´m sure she will get it

We still havn´t heard much about Jenni or Emmi this season. I see Emmi WD from Budapest Trophy, but went back to train in the US, she still has GP later. But what about Jenni? I did notice that she has been posting videos from Finland, watching hockey matches with her BF. It doesn´t seem like she is training much in Oberstdorf at the moment, makes me wondering if we will see her anytime soon...

The skater is not necessiraly the same to EC and WC. Someone else than the skater who goes to EC may still increase the Sb after Ec get better summed scores and get the Wc spot.

 

[Tingeling]

Euro ticket is looking good for Andreas, but since Nationals is in December, it might have something to say regarding the Euro spot. It really depends on the associations selection criteria. I remember Camilla Gjersem got the EC once based on that she placed above Anne Line Gjersem at Nationals, all though Anne Line had better results internationally that season. I´m not sure how it works in Sweden though, I think it makes much more sense to base it on results previous competitions as well, isn´t Finland doing something like that?

You can find the Swedish selection criteria for EC/WC/JWC here: https://www.svenskkonstakning.se/tavling/singelparisdans/tavlainternationellt/isumasterskap

In short, they make an overall assessment based on A) international results, B) national results, C) world ranking.

It's not clear cut; the vagueness of the criteria could be a source of controversy if there are two evenly matched skaters. Which has rarely been a problem, but it's all in the hands of the selection committee, really.

 

[norwegianfairytale]

You can find the Swedish selection criteria for EC/WC/JWC here: https://www.svenskkonstakning.se/tavling/singelparisdans/tavlainternationellt/isumasterskap

In short, they make an overall assessment based on A) international results, B) national results, C) world ranking.

It's not clear cut; the vagueness of the criteria could be a source of controversy if there are two evenly matched skaters. Which has rarely been a problem, but it's all in the hands of the selection committee, really.

Thanks a lot!

Interesting, it seems like results from the previous season count as well along with the new season. Andreas had very good result as well, got gold in Nordics and Tallinn Trophy , but competed in juniors, in a field not as thick as senior. But when I look at Nikolaj result as well, he had some higher scores last season, but Andreas scores have now increased, and Nikolajs result got worse (still early season though). So it´s interesting to know if they look at placements alone, or if they look at overall scores as well.

Andreas has now the edge of this season and the world ranking, Nikolaj is nr. 55 now and Andreas nr. 36. It´s likely that Andreas will climb further after JGP this week, as he is one of the podium favorites.

Nikolaj has only competed in one Challenger so far, if he place higher in another, maybe the placement at SM in December could be decisive.