2023 Europeans: Women | Thoughts

[gsk8]

Anastasiia Gubanova wins historic gold at 2023 Europeans

2023 European Figure Skating Championships Women’s Free Skate Anastasiia Gubanova won historic gold when she became the first Georgian woman to win a European title on Saturday in Espoo, Finland. […]

www.goldenskate.com

Historic gold for ! Great job Gubanova!

A huge congrats to Repond in her debut at this event!

I hope Hendrickx doesn't beat herself up too much. She's had such a great season and still has Worlds!

What are your thoughts on the women's event overall? Any favorites? Any nit-picks?

 

[JimR]

What would be an appropriate punishment for damaging the ice on purpose with a gold medal on the line for the skater about to come out? You would get thrown off the rink at most places for doing this. It's quite forceful.

 

[thatdarncat]

I didn't notice Luna do that, it does look quite forceful, if this was tennis she would probably get a warning.

 

[desertskates]

Oh, I don't really think there's anything to what Loena's doing, she's just frustrated. There are probably way worse dings in the lutz corners.

Despite it being a very early morning for me, I really enjoyed the Euro ladies. Gubanova and Repond both really brought their best stuff and must be so thrilled to be medalists! It's always so fun to see these skaters from the smaller feds get their time to shine. SOOO close for Kurakova, but she should be very proud of her skate.

Hopefully Nicole Schott and Loena have a better go of it at Worlds. Both are very capable.

 

[gsk8]

What would be an appropriate punishment for damaging the ice on purpose with a gold medal on the line for the skater about to come out? You would get thrown off the rink at most places for doing this. It's quite forceful.

Forceful indeed, but I'm certain she didn't do it on purpose or with ill-intent. We could certainly go back over history and drag up faux pas behavior from a horde of skaters and teams at international events, but then that would derail the thread and current topic, right?

 

[withwings]

What would be an appropriate punishment for damaging the ice on purpose with a gold medal on the line for the skater about to come out? You would get thrown off the rink at most places for doing this. It's quite forceful.

It is far beyond human comprehension how you dare here to post your own suspicion that Loena does it on purpose,
Suspicion is a dirtiness of one's own soul.

 

[gsk8]

 

[TT_Fin]

I haven't even watched ladies/women EC for some years very because of strange overscoring and because some are delivering the almost same programs again again by just music chances. If a woman gets the same as men from SP without quads, scoring is going to strange way. One 3A is not worth of giving 20 points more to compared to other skaters skating clean. I started to hate women FS when it went to jumping contests. Many skaters still concentrate on jumps and many as well were as well skated like juniors.

A year ago I was quite sure that i won't go to place at all. I chanced my mind and enjoyed. If it had been jumping contest, I would have skipped women. I allow men to do it, but also they need artistry.

Well to back to this competition. Happy for Janna, but I would like to see our older skaters do better. The competition about the spots next season will be tight and interesting. I feel sorry for Olga. Olga's SP was really entertaining. I would not like to listen that kind of music on my free time, but she delivers it. I am so sad for her FS disaster. I haven't seen Belgium's Nina often, but I liked that she delivered a program suitable for young girl. Kimmy Repond got the best TES which was right and her PCS were not high as the other top four And Belgium Nina's which is also correct IMO. Ekaterina delivered her program. She is an entertainer. I was hoping she could medal, but she would have needed higher TES. I didn't have any dream podiums, but for her I would have wished one. She or her team or they together have chosen girly style for her. When she trains wearing training clothes, she looks older. I did not have time to go on place to watch women practice, but I saw some videos from it. There were also some other skaters I would like to have seen to do better, too. I tried to cheer everyone so my hands are still a little bit on pain. I hope the skaters could feel that we liked everybody.

 

[Magill]

PCS should be judged by it's own, not compared to TES.

I could not agree more. BTW, this is basically one of the rules and judges should be expected to respect the rules or be removed from judging if they don't. It is as simple as that. Would change the look of entire competitions if applied consistently,

 

[Autumn Leaves]

I could not agree more. BTW, this is basically one of the rules and judges should be expected to respect the rules or be removed from judging if they don't. It is as simple as that. Would change the look of entire competitions if applied consistently,

But wasn’t there also a rule that caps PCS when there are serious errors that distract from the performance, such as falls?

 

[TT_Fin]

If PCS should be related go TES. what for those even exist then?

 

[SXTN]

I cant believe Loena would do that on purpose risking injury to Nastya. She even brought Nastya into Chic Sports sportwear company last season for Nastyas first ever sponsor. I never expected Nastya to have a sponsor. Now the door is open for more. I would think Loena did that pissed at herself knowing she just lost the euros gold that she wanted so badly

Loena connected Nastya with Chique Sports?

 

[Magill]

But wasn’t there also a rule that caps PCS when there are serious errors that distract from the performance, such as falls?

Yeah, but I do not question that, I understand falls can distract and ruin the performance and besides, they are capped at a pretty high level anyway. Still I remember judges breaking this rule as well.
What I question is that components go up by default if skaters have high TES, not to keep them from winning even if their skating is pretty juniorish or at average at best. Or they go up insanely high for high TES skaters for no PCS-related reason at all. I would not like to pin point anyone by name, but I think it is clear what I mean.

 

[Scott512]

Loena connected Nastya with Chique Sports?

I would think so Since Loena is the number one lady there repping the brand. If she didn't want Anastasia there she probably wouldn't be wearing chic sports. Either way it's nice for the company that they went one two at Europeans. Ekaterina is also sponsored by chic sports and she almost finished 3rd.

 

[TT_Fin]

I would think so Since Loena is the number one lady there repping the brand. If she didn't want Anastasia there she probably wouldn't be wearing chic sports. Either way it's nice for the company that they went one two at Europeans. Ekaterina is also sponsored by chic sports and she almost finished 3rd.

Janna Jyrkinen is also an ambassador of Chique sport based by Jenna McCorkell. There was a big stand in Espoo, at one of the best places to have it right in front of the main entrance with several bigger pictures of Loena than herself is. Olivia Lisko, who is the Finnish girl holding the substitute spot for worlds at the moment by second best scores after Janna, also advertises those training clothes. I saw they both had their applyments for Chique sport ambassadors at their IG acoounts maybe a year ago, but now idea how they got the idea. Loena has been training in Finland sometimes, so it maybe a reason when she has met local girls. She also skated the challeging parts at a Finnish movie "free skate" (No, I have not seen it). But now this is going to off topic, so back to subject.

I don't believe any skater at that level would do harm so public, the thoughts after disappoiments are maybe not clever.

 

[Anna K.]

There are probably way worse dings in the lutz corners.

Actually, this could be an interesting topic to discuss with Lutz Corner users of this forum. I know that thrown objects on ice may cause an injury, but are dings a problem? And how do they deal with this? Since toe picks are not banned in any way as far as I know. Also, why do skaters sometimes bang their toes against ice before/after skate? This is definitely not the first time I've seen the move.

 

[surimi]

I enjoyed the women a lot - more than I thought I would, actually! The only thing making me sour is being unable to access part of the footage, thanks to my national TV which doesn't archive stuff that's not on their main channel...
- I was impressed by all three young talents, Kimmy, Janna and Nina. Well done to all of them! Like someone wrote somewhere else, I think at least one of them was 15, and I was quite surprised to see her at a major event because I'd thought the ban on 15-year-olds was in place already. Apart from that, I was especially happy for Nina Pinzarrone placing so well after her injury prevented her from competing on senior GP. But her placement, and Kimmy's especially, came as no surprise to me as I saw them last season, and thought they were quite consistent, with the full arsenal of senior level jumps (sans ultra C). Out of the three, I like Nina's artistry the most. Janna reminds me of Yulia Lipnitskaia in her determination.
- always a pleasure to see Niina Petrokina and Josefin Taljegård. Original programs, musical skaters, great dynamic performances. I wish Josefin could get enough TES to be on the GP because her musicality and charisma deserve to be seen more.
- I hope Eva Lotta switches coaches back, or goes to someone closer to her home. This collab doesn't seem to be bringing the desired results, and she often looks so sad in the KnC, with the Dutch coach just sort of shrugging... She needs to get to a better place mentally as it's obvious she's got all the jumps. She has just developed this unfortunate habit of sort of freezing up when she makes a couple of mistakes, and it affects her so much her entire program unravels. I hope she can find a fix for that as she's such a memorable, interesting to watch skater; another that picks out-of-the-box music.
- I believe Loena will be fine. It's well-known it's easier to chase than be the main favorite. She made some costly mistakes, but they were few, and otherwise her programs are fun, the SP especially.
- Anastasiia Gubanova deserved her victory and is an elegant, lyrical skater. But for the FS, I just don't understand how the PCS were higher than the TES, considering there was very little that reflected India. It felt like a water fairy's ballet variations loosely based on Indian themes, rather than a serious attempt at portraying this type of music. I don't feel much of a desire from her to portray it, either, hence I'm not charmed by that program. Her SP is good, I get what it's about, but I could do without the sound effects. Lovely skater, but I preferred her last year's programs to these. Does Urushadze still compete? I'd like to see both of them next year.
- Ekaterina Kurakova was fun as always, I especially liked the original FS...
- ... and Olga Mikutina's SP. She's a bit inconsistent, but I hope she finds her groove eventually. She's one skater I'm excited to see develop. She's caught my eye as early as 2018 Coupe du Printemps, when she was a tiny, skinny junior, but one could see the talent already.
- It'll be a pity when Natasha McKay retires. I'm a fan of hers. Her jumps aren't the most difficult, but she's always super classy, flexible, and very elegant to watch. She's also musical, and on a shallow note, her FS dress is one of the most flattering/prettiest out there.
- Where was Alexia Paganini, is she injured or did she do that badly at Swiss nationals? I think I didn't see her among the subs, either. Mae Berenice is missed, too.

 

[macy]

It's pretty amazing to me how people think there was any kind of malicious intent to Loenas reaction. She had a bad skate and was upset with herself and likely did this completely absentmindedly. not to mention a couple toe pick marks on the ice isn't going to cause anyone harm. a scratch spin mark has more of a chance of that than what Loena did. People love to stir up drama.

 

[wakuwaku]

First GPF, then EC.. total skating degradation. They weren't be able even get above 200. How many years ago it was like that at Euro? And the problem is not only jumps. There was nothing interesting to watch, nothing exciting. Skating was slow and outdated. With huge pauses and preparation times for jumps. Music and programs were boring - with very basic and shallow pretense for interpretation. It was like time travel back to 2000s. People still praising it though - because such skating is only what they left with. It's backwards direction ISU wants though - so nothing can be done about that. Except leaving the only negative opinion in some meaningless post.

 

[RobinA]

I haven't watched Europeans for several years for reasons I can't mention. I tuned in this year for reasons I can't mention and very much enjoyed all the ladies that we wouldn't have seen for reasons I can't mention. AND I think I saw one of my all time favorite skating costumes - the Belgian lady in green with the red flower at her neck. Gorgeous and different costume.