Day 4 as it happened
Table of contents:
1. We are ok
2. Sexiness meets skill
3. My name is Hase
4. Beast on ice
5. Emotion
6. Grace
7. What Inga did
1. We are ok
First of all,
Anna & Martin are doing ok! No injuries or anything and they were smiling again, at the podium. Martin btw. is one of very few men who smiles, which is great. I have a lot of VC pictures, with the girl going all out, showing me her best and the guy next to her looks like a bus driver who lost his donut box.
Anyways, the Czech had a pretty hard Free Skate, simply because, they were unable to practice this morning. I watched the practice and he was alone, which was interesting to look at, as he lifted air, he skated with air in his hands - it was skating with a ghost. Anna was not injured and no she did not oversleep either, or needed longer in the bathroom, no! Anna had Seniors practice earlier and therefore was unable to join Martin.
In Said Senior competition, the 15 years old came second, with a wonderful program, that had so much of her charming skating abilities to offer, that you have to ask yourself if she should not just focus on this competition from now on. At the Ladies, she performed a lovely triple Lutz - double toe, an element that did not work at all in practice and she fell so awkwardly a few times, that I can only say "respect" young lady!
Her skate to Larrons En Foire was flawless and courageous, she aligned her steps and movements, lovely to the various phrases of the music and she really enjoyed her time on the ice, with huge smiles.
Said smiles, were gone during their pairs skate - but as mentioned, they came back at the VC when they grabbed their trophies for coming second with 123.52 points, while showing an excellent double Axel - double toe - double toe and a great triple twist and no touch sequence.
So should Anna dumb Martin, no I do not think so, because they have a huge potential and I am not sure if Anna and Martin know that, but Maxim Trankov is a fan of you, he likes your skates and see´s you as a very talented couple and he is right. The transitions are really advanced already, a good example is the transition to the side by side, flying camel, where Anna goes through the legs of Martin to introduce the new element, which lowers the amount of time to align themselves or prepare said element, which increases the difficulty and honestly, also looks good.
2. Sexiness meets skill
Looks good, oh boy Alina does. You should had seen the photographers next to me, "click, click, click" whenever she was close by and yes, I am guilty too, I made some good shots of her as well and she really is a pretty girl, those blue eyes, wow! The 15 years old, however, is not just beautiful, no! Her flexibility opens up a huge amount of possibilities for the
Russian pair, as she can pretty much do the split everywhere on the ice, therefore allowing beautiful transitions like into their lifts or during the choreographed sequence where the pair has to perform no touch and in hold. It is amazing, that already the next Russian pair is coming and I said it yesterday, the extreme size difference is a problem, but maybe Alina will grow a bit more in height, so that this could be fixed. Mostly visible is it during the pair spins and death spiral, its such a pity to be honest. But we will see, maybe she will grow a bit more.
Anyways, the couple from St. Petersburg is extremely talented and won the Jr. competition at Dortmund with 142.74, while performing twist and Sal throw both as triple and the side by side lovely with triple toe - double toe - double toe.
They do have a lot to offer and they showed it, just like they and the other two proved, how lovely pair skating can be.
3. My name is Hase
Minerva, Fabienne Hase. This girl looks like a star, she has the name of a star and she might some day, skate as a star. I know, once again I start a report about
Hase / Seegert like this, I am sorry - but she can not hide, I just like that name so much!
In 2014 they teamed up and I wrote about them last season a few times and, to me they have what I like to see on the ice. Their FS to Romeo and Juliet has a brilliant choreography, as example.
When the strings lead to the Romeo and Juliet soundtrack kicks in, they have a tiny choreographed dance lift, where he holds her on his arms and exactly this is what pairs skating is all about. The man has to present the lady and the lady has to let the man present her. But also the holds are very romantic and balanced, you just think its actually Romeo and Juliet on the ice and this is what has to translate to the audience.
There are high decorated pairs which can not skate like that, so this alone shows the huge potential in that German pair. Of course, you clearly see that Minerva is just a pair skater for a bit more than a year now, she does at times look a bit like a shy kitten asking Nolan to lead and she does not yet have the confidence of a pair skating girl, who did the holds and transitions with someone on the ice for years. But, I am sure this will come over time, they have a huge potential in delivering great stories and I bet, next time I see them, they made again an improvement! Respect to the guy who did the choreography, its really nicely done.
4. Beast on Ice
While Hanyu broke the world record, we saw a guy with tattoos, breaking hearts. I am surely not the biggest men´s skating fan in this world, but! I have my moments and today, I had them twice. What a beast of a performance did
Voronov perform. Holy moly, mushroom. That was just out of this world! His performance to Muse had everything I expect of a man on the ice. Power, he looks bad
*** and he skated bad
***, opening up with his quadruple - triple toe combination and later Axel and loop, both receiving the 10% bonus, while showing a clean exit and landing. There is no cheating or shaky exit, it is clean and stable, he really presents those elements and does not try to just get away with them.
I do not know what it is, but Russian man skate very good on the ice. The same it was with Plushenko or Menshov and the same it is with Voronov. They do not just pull the quads, no they perform the elements clean and safe, while having strong expression and "man" power. It was surely a big day when Hanyu broke the record, but for me - this guy here, he skated fantastic, heads up high, strong eye to eye contact and even speeding up accordingly to the music during his step sequence. WOW!
Thank you very much!
5. Emotion
That you can also skate a fantastic men's program, if you do not have tattoos and the obvious "male" skate,
Jorik Hendrickx proved well. He was skating to "you raise me up", a song I hate - as its been covered by one of those "girly man good looks" guys and all women love them, ya I am jealous, who loves me??? ... anyways! The song in Joriks hands and by John Groban, however, was completely different and at no time, did I think about this silly good looking Alexander Klaws guy. No, I saw a skater from Belgium who had an incredible choreography, fantastic linking of his elements and an interpretation, so visible to everyone by presenting the choreography with graceful arms, knee falls and desperate eyes.
Honestly, he was the complete opposite to Voronov, but he was equally enjoyable and it is very seldom that I post so much about a men´s competition, so you guys out there hopefully understand, how massive these two guys performed today! Tomorrow he will skate to Titanic, so I am ready to get on board, are you?
6. Grace
I saw her at Bordereaux and she is an incredible good looking woman, a woman who I am not man enough to talk to
No seriously, if I would meet her in a club, I would probably look at her, yet leave the club alone.
Laurine has a wonderful charm, she has an incredible posture in her upper body, clean spins on one blade, it looks so "dance" to me - not sure if she ever did professional dance in her life, most likely ballet, as she has the style of a dancer. She presents elements incredible well, very proud and confident, - even if her face, was desperate and suffering, after what happened at Paris and I am sure her program did now also relate to this.
Her Axel, is spectacular, the exit into the hop - amazing! This is how you do an Axel, you do not wait 10 seconds and jump it a hundred times in your head, you also do not land it just so - no! You do what Laurine did, you go into the element, skating on one blade, make the element while having a clean landing, backwards and then you add a transition into the next, brilliant!
Girl you rock so much, I am speechless!
Ladies, this is how you skate to make man like me, cry.
7. What Inga did
As always, Inga. My little
Inga has now mastered the tripe Lutz, she lands it and she really improved a lot again since her last skate. Maybe, you guys think I am a Dreamer, but for me are skaters who I follow since they were kids, just so close to my heart and Inga is one of them. I saw her land the first Flip, the first double Axel and you know - she has my heart still. Her layback is gorgeous, you can not do this element any better, how her hand goes to her heart, wow! I wish we would have extra points for something like that in FS.
Seriously, so beautiful!
Besides that, she links her elements better now, a few years ago, it was like a 2 second break before every new phrase in her program and this is much less common now. Besides that, she had such a nice dress, it was so typical for my Inga, she is such a cute lady and I am so proud of her. Proud that she is working so hard every day at the ice rink and that she is really keeping it up, even with Alexandra & Co. around. These kids get all the fame in Lithuania, but the truth is, without my Inga, they would not be on the ice now.
I am so looking forward to tomorrow, thanks ladies and gentleman and girls (Talisa). Good luck tomorrow everyone, we will see us at the ice rink.
