Isabella Gamez & Aleksandr Korovin

[aroundtheworld778]

Isabella and Alexander are going to Cup of China! The GP Pairs list is officially updated. It's a historic milestone for the Philippines. CoC will guarantee them WS points. Looking at the Skating Scores preview list, I'm hoping they can get at least 6th place and maybe higher if they improve significantly on their season's best. It will be exciting to see if they can do that at NRW Trophy, if they are still going to Germany. (They are out of Warsaw Cup, of course.)

It's really nice to see all the congratulations and likes they have gotten from other skaters on their Instagram. Comments came in from Ioulia Chtchetinina (who is also competing at CoC), Milania Väänänen, Danny and Ellie, Anastasia Vaipan-Law, Max and Valentina, Adrienne Carhart, Filipino skaters and celebrities, and more. Even the wonderful Todd Eldredge stopped by to congratulate them! He was one of the skaters who got me into the fandom.

Don't forget to give them a follow on Instagram...let's help them get to 10,000 followers!

 

[skatingfan1412]

It's really nice to see all the congratulations and likes they have gotten from other skaters on their Instagram. Comments came in from Ioulia Chtchetinina (who is also competing at CoC), Milania Väänänen, Danny and Ellie, Anastasia Vaipan-Law, Max and Valentina, Adrienne Carhart, Filipino skaters and celebrities, and more. Even the wonderful Todd Eldredge stopped by to congratulate them! He was one of the skaters who got me into the fandom.

It made me really happy to see that Isabella and Alexander, Danny and Ellie seem to be good friends!! Danny and Ellie are also my fave pair. I'll continue to stalk their fan fest, and bring my fangirling over there.

 

[aroundtheworld778]

It made me really happy to see that Isabella and Alexander, Danny and Ellie seem to be good friends!! Danny and Ellie are also my fave pair. I'll continue to stalk their fan fest, and bring my fangirling over there.

Danny is just great. Here he posted a picture with Isabella at Worlds 2024 in Montreal.
Edit: I also found a picture with Ellie! From Four Continents 2023.

 

[aroundtheworld778]

It's cheer time!

As of today (these things are always evolving!), Gamez/Korovin have two competitions coming up: NRW Trophy (Nov 16-17), and PGE Warsaw Cup Challenger (Nov 21-22).

Both NRW and WC are opportunities to get technical minimums for Worlds 2025. The pair is just 6.9 points short. A "clean" free skate will be key. Worlds is important because it is one of two qualifying competitions for the 2026 Olympics.

The pair missed out on valuable World Standings points when they were forced to decline NHK Trophy but they have another chance to pick up points at Warsaw Cup. A top-five finish will give them WS points. WC currently has 21 pairs registered but I do hope G/K could make the top five, since they have the sixth-best SB score of the 21 pairs. There are some new pairs in the mix who might put out higher value SBS and throw jumps, but G/K have the edge of competition experience and high base value in other elements. Plus I hope the judges will be nice and fair with their PCS scores. (At John Nicks this year, G/K's PCS LP scores were all over the place- everywhere from 12th to 5th. I don't really understand how that happens, but we know PCS is the subjective part anyway.)

NRW Trophy will not offer WS points since only four couples are currently registered and you need at least five from three different countries. However, G/K have the highest SB in the group and so it will be a good chance to pick up their first international gold! What a thrill it would be to see the Filipino flag at the top of the podium.

Last but not least, their Grand Prix hopes might not be over quite yet. They should be at the top of the GP alternate list now that Nagaoka/Moriguchi have been invited to a second GP assignment at Finlandia. There are only two GPs left- Finlandia (Nov 15-17) and Cup of China (Nov 22-24). Of course, there's the question of the visas, depending on the timing of withdrawals and what kind of visas G/K need or might already have.

Fingers crossed and let's see how these next two weeks play out!

Throwback to when they made skating history with their Worlds 2023 qualification:

Update: the pair is withdrawn from both competitions. We'll see them next at Cup of China!

 

[skatingfan1412]

Update: the pair is withdrawn from both competitions. We'll see them next at Cup of China!

Oh! It would have been nice to see G/K win a possible gold in Germany. But just watching the GP Finlandia SP, the young Japanese team (Nagaoka/Moriguchi) had a great showing last week at NHK in Japan and didn't do as well at Finlandia. The back to back Asia, Europe competitions seem very tough even for the most experienced teams, let alone the up and coming ones. I'm glad G/K seem to be focused on a strong performance at Cup of China if that's what they were going for here.

 

[aroundtheworld778]

Philippines is in the house!

(Photos from Instagram stories)

 

[aroundtheworld778]

So proud of our pair for their first GP!
They got a positive GOE in every element except for a fall on the throw jump and the underrotated Salchow. The twist was beautiful!
Kind of surprised the judges put them behind the Chinese pair in PCS, but maybe the fall affected that. (Also, this is a GP in China.)
Ready to root for them in the Free Skate.

 

[aroundtheworld778]

Isabella and Alexander got a new PB in the free skate today, breaking the 100-point barrier (100.61) for the first time! They have also moved up to 36th in the World Standings thanks to the 213 WS points achieved.

As in the short program, the pair achieved a positive GOE on almost every element. They still need 6.90 in TES to qualify for Worlds and will be looking for that at their next competition. There is certainly room for that in the free skate since they lost some levels on lifts and missed their SBS jump combo.

I just love the way their skating has blossomed this year. Their skills have noticeably improved and they have beautiful lines. The opening twist is certainly the centerpiece of their performance; in the free skate judges rewarded them with GOE ranging from 2-4.

I would love to see them go for more intense music for their free skate next year. I think the La Bohémè remix in this year's short program suits their character well (and I admit, I'm a fan of remixes!).

 

[Arriba627]

Very nice job from Isabella and Alexander! Congratulations to them!

 

[aroundtheworld778]

Alexander is one step closer to Philippine citizenship. They are hoping to get it in time to compete at the Asian Winter Games in February.

 

[aroundtheworld778]

Congrats to Alexander for his Philippine citizenship!
The proceedings for his citizenship bill start at 5:45 in this video.
Of note, Senate President Jinggoy Estrada says he supported Korovin's citizenship because Korovin has committed to coaching Filipino skaters once he retires.

 

[skatingfan1412]

Congrats to Alexander for his Philippine citizenship!
The proceedings for his citizenship bill start at 5:45 in this video.
Of note, Senate President Jinggoy Estrada says he supported Korovin's citizenship because Korovin has committed to coaching Filipino skaters once he retires.

How exciting for them! I understand from a recent media interview they were really hoping this citizenship would happen sooner rather than later to be able to participate in Asian Winter Games and hopefully medal there. I hope they have a chance to do that, and I will continue to root for them as the Philippines top hope!

I am surprised the Philippines has never won a medal at Asian Winter Games in any sport, but I guess being a small tropical country, I’m also not surprised.

On their ISU bio, it says they train in Manila (where they are now), Sochi and US. I really commend this team because I would imagine the training circumstances in the Philippines are not ideal, so hoping to see more consistency from them and they will be ready to get the Worlds scores in their next competitions.

 

[aroundtheworld778]

How exciting for them! I understand from a recent media interview they were really hoping this citizenship would happen sooner rather than later to be able to participate in Asian Winter Games and hopefully medal there. I hope they have a chance to do that, and I will continue to root for them as the Philippines top hope!

I am surprised the Philippines has never won a medal at Asian Winter Games in any sport, but I guess being a small tropical country, I’m also not surprised.

On their ISU bio, it says they train in Manila (where they are now), Sochi and US. I really commend this team because I would imagine the training circumstances in the Philippines are not ideal, so hoping to see more consistency from them and they will be ready to get the Worlds scores in their next competitions.

yeah if Philippines gets any winter sports medals I would think they would come from Filipinos based in countries with winter sports facilities, like Bella and Sasha, Maxine Bautista, and Peter Groseclose in the US. Also Phillippines gets hit with around 20 (?) major tropical storms a year, which I would think really disruptive for training and travel, and could lose you a chance at a major competition if you had to fly out of the Phillippines at the same time a storm hit.

As for medaling at Asian Winter Games, I would be over the moon, but competition might be stiff: the two top Japanese pairs and the Uzbekistan (former Russian) pair have better SBs, plus the Chinese pair Wang/Zhu beat them in the SP at Cup of China. Also, Olympic gold medalist Sui has just paired up with a new partner. The word going around is that the pairing is very unequal and needs a lot of work, but if they can throw down some big SBS jumps they'll have an advantage. So I guess we have to see who actually enters the Asian Games and of course I'm rooting for Bella and Sasha to have the skate of their lives. If you add up all their best elements over the past two years in one performance, they would be on a par with the second best Japanese pair and would be well ahead of Wang/Zhu.

One factor that might help or hinder is that the Asian games is just a week before Four Continents. Lucky for Asians, Harbin is a short flight from Korea and I think just an hour time difference. But I wonder if it might affect whether pairs do both or just one competition.

 

[skatingfan1412]

yeah if Philippines gets any winter sports medals I would think they would come Filipinos based in countries with winter sports facilities, like Bella and Sasha, Maxine Bautista, and Peter Groseclose in the US. Also Phillippines gets hit with around 20 (?) major tropical storms a year, which I would think really disruptive for training and travel, and could lose you a chance at a major competition if you had to fly out of the Phillippines at the same time a storm hit.

As for medaling at Asian Winter Games, I would be over the moon, but competition might be stiff: the two top Japanese pairs and the Uzbekistan (former Russian) pair have better SBs, plus the Chinese pair Wang/Zhu beat them in the SP at Cup of China. Also, Olympic gold medalist Sui has just paired up with a new partner. The word going around is that the pairing is very unequal and needs a lot of work, but if they can throw down some big SBS jumps they'll have an advantage. So I guess we have to see who actually enters the Asian Games and of course I'm rooting for Bella and Sasha to have the skate of their lives. If you add up all their best elements over the past two years in one performance, they would be on a par with the second best Japanese pair and would be well ahead of Wang/Zhu.

One factor that might help or hinder is that the Asian games is just a week before Four Continents. Lucky for Asians, Harbin is a short flight from Korea and I think just an hour time difference. But I wonder if it might affect whether pairs do both or just one competition.

You're right, it depends on the entries for Asian Winter Games, but I think they have a good shot. Gamez / Korovin beat the second Japanese team in SP at John Nicks, they did outright beat Wang/Zhu at 4CC last year and overall at GP Cup of China, also considering the North Korean pair that did a couple competitions this season, their scores are better. The Uzbeks had a bit of a disastrous FS at their last GP, so it all comes down to who shows up ready that week. I also wonder if the Asian teams eligible would do the back-to-back Asian Winter Games and Four Continents, so we'll have to see of course.

I was excited about Isabella and Alexander's improvement in the beginning of this season, so I'm hoping the best is yet to come.
It seems that they have had a lot of bad luck with the Trophee Metropole FS getting cancelled as well as not being able to go to NHK Trophy, which probably was pretty tough? I read somewhere also comparing Kam/O'Shea in terms of experience inequality, which I'm hoping Gamez/Korovin will grow more over time as most pairs do. They do have their work cut out for them. I mean... I guess it's better they're part of the conversation as possibilities, then not at all, which is pretty cool for the Philippines!

 

[aroundtheworld778]

Alexander's early Christmas gift: President Marcos signs into law his citizenship.
https://politiko.com.ph/2024/12/22/...vin-ahead-of-2026-winter-olympics/daily-feed/
And from another article, he says: “I want to bring pride and honor to the Philippines and the Filipino people. The Philippines is such a great country and the people are even much better.”
Alexander has been posting this week from Sochi. Sochi is one of their training bases.
Merry Christmas everyone!

 

[aroundtheworld778]

it depends on the entries for Asian Winter Games, but I think they have a good shot.

Full list of Asian Games entries is not out yet, but I just realized Japan announced their entries back in November. They are not sending their top pair (Riku/Ryuichi), so that does open up a good chance for a G/K medal!
EDIT: Chinese entries are not out, but it's very unlikely Sui/Li are participating because they did not show up to nationals and Sui has been designated a delegate for the Games.
According to Wikipedia, Uzbekistan has not yet announced any athletes for the Games. The Uzbekistan pair Geynish/Chigirev may not have the citizenship yet to participate.
If so, G/K would have the second-best SB of all the Asian pairs putting them in an excellent spot to get on the podium, and maybe even a gold.

 

[aroundtheworld778]

Alexander and Isabella posted a Christmas greeting. They are currently in Sochi preparing for the second half of the season. Here they are with Dmitri Savin, Fedor Klimov, and Sofia Evdokimova, along with the Dutch pair Daria Danilova and Michel Tsiba who are coached by the same team.

 

[aroundtheworld778]

Just came across this cool new edit on youtube. This is from their World 2024 performance.

 

[skatingfan1412]

The entry lists are out for Asian Winter Games. In pairs skating, it will be Isabella and Alexander for the Philippines, the Uzbekistans, two Japanese pairs, North Koreans and Chinese pair. I am really hopeful for the Philippines first medal at Asian Winter Games, and Isabella and Alexander seem to be in a good position to do so with these entries. Keeping my fingers crossed for these two!

https://mis.harbin2025.com/athlete

 

[aroundtheworld778]

Happy birthday to Isabella today!

Fun fact: Gamez/Korovin rank 10th in the world this season for average triple twist score.
They have four twists this season which average a score of 6.80.
Here is their 3Tw3 at John Nicks which earned them a 7.07.

Wishing them all the best as they start they start their second half of the season!