2024-25 British and Irish figure skating

[pesto]

In Worlds men, there will be menning. You just have to hope Ed doesn't men, and benefits from other men menning.

I would rather there were less menning, redgardless of Ed's chances, but judging from every competition this year, much menning is to be expected.

Much Menning sounds like it could be a cute Dorset village.

 

[thatdarncat]

I recall Stacey Kemp and David King quite well, but I don't think they ever got so high as this.

I remember Kemp and King, think they used to place about 10th and were around for a few years. I remember being amazed Britain had anyone doing pairs, its such a difficult discipline.

I was really impressed with Ana and Luke's composure in the free program, being in the last group and having a bad fall in practice, they could have let nerves get to them, but they didn't, onwards and upwards hopefully.

 

[Weetos]

In Worlds men, there will be menning. You just have to hope Ed doesn't men, and benefits from other men menning.

I would rather there were less menning, redgardless of Ed's chances, but judging from every competition this year, much menning is to be expected.

Much Menning sounds like it could be a cute Dorset village.

As a pedant and Dorset native, I have to tell you, there aren't any Muches in Dorset - they're further north. Maybe a cute Herefordshire village?

 

[pesto]

As a pedant and Dorset native, I have to tell you, there aren't any Muches in Dorset - they're further north. Maybe a cute Herefordshire village?

Heh. Right you are.

British Placename Mapper

placenames.rtwilson.com

I think I had in mind this fictional village, near Bournemouth, but in Devon according to the Wiki:

Much Deeping

In the novel The Pale Horse, Much Deeping is an English village located about 15 to 20 miles from Bournemouth, in Devon. It is the location of a group of three witches who claimed to be able to kill remotely. Pale Horse - an old inn converted into a house, inhabited by three women Thyrza Grey...

agathachristie.fandom.com

In the TV adaptation they placed it in Surrey, but as a fellow pedant I had to scream at the Cotswold stone village they used to portray it - Surrey doesn't have any beautiful building stone like that.

The -ing ending happens in a lot of placenames, but particularly commonly in the southeast.


Mind you, it would be appropriate for Much Menning to be situated in an entirely unexpected place.

 

[Weetos]

I think I had in mind this fictional village, near Bournemouth, but in Devon according to the Wiki:

Much Deeping

In the novel The Pale Horse, Much Deeping is an English village located about 15 to 20 miles from Bournemouth, in Devon. It is the location of a group of three witches who claimed to be able to kill remotely. Pale Horse - an old inn converted into a house, inhabited by three women Thyrza Grey...

agathachristie.fandom.com

In the TV adaptation they placed it in Surrey, but as a fellow pedant I had to scream at the Cotswold stone village they used to portray it - Surrey doesn't have any beautiful building stone like that.

The -ing ending happens in a lot of placenames, but particularly commonly in the southeast.


Mind you, it would be appropriate for Much Menning to be situated in an entirely unexpected place.

Well that's... doubly wrong, Bournemouth is a good 40 miles from Devon hahaha. It's the opposite end of the county. Do your research, Agatha!

Although to be fair to her I think that's a mistake on the part of the fan wiki.

 

[pesto]

Although to be fair to her I think that's a mistake on the part of the fan wiki.

I think that's probable. I haven't got a copy of the book, though I have read it. But not recently enough to remember the precise description of the location of Much Menning Deeping.

It's an interesting one, because its description of thallium poisoning is known to have alerted detectives and / or associates of victims to real life cases.

 

[Ruthypegs]

Nice to see some national press for Lilah and Lewis: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2...ew-torvill-and-dean-of-gb-olympic-ice-dancing and some local press for Luke Digby - https://www.thestar.co.uk/sport/oth...ater-fifth-at-european-figure-skating-4972428

 

[pesto]

Dundee Courier also covers the Dundee-trained pair. I think they are quite used to covering ice skating - for so many years, Natasha McKay was our top woman.

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/sport/other-sports/5173291/dundee-figure-skaters-paramedic-best-british-euro-36-years/

 

[Ruthypegs]

Dundee Courier also covers the Dundee-trained pair. I think they are quite used to covering ice skating - for so many years, Natasha McKay was our top woman.

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/sport/other-sports/5173291/dundee-figure-skaters-paramedic-best-british-euro-36-years/

Good that the Dundee Courier covers Luke and Ana - unfortunately, here in Sheffield, there hasn't been much coverage of the Sheffield skaters (e.g Nina Povey, and previously, PJ Hallam). I hope that changes with Euros being held here.

 

[pesto]

The combo of a home Euros, a winter Olympic year, and British skaters doing really well in both dance and pairs should hopefully improve national coverage for this next year...

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Dundee Courier also covers the Dundee-trained pair. I think they are quite used to covering ice skating - for so many years, Natasha McKay was our top woman.

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/sport/other-sports/5173291/dundee-figure-skaters-paramedic-best-british-euro-36-years/

Good that the Dundee Courier covers Luke and Ana - unfortunately, here in Sheffield, there hasn't been much coverage of the Sheffield skaters (e.g Nina Povey, and previously, PJ Hallam). I hope that changes with Euros being held here.

Good on the Dundee Courier!

And I'm not just saying that because the editor is from Northern Ireland...

The combo of a home Euros, a winter Olympic year, and British skaters doing really well in both dance and pairs should hopefully improve national coverage for this next year...

Aha! That's probably why the BBC showed the European Championships this year. To start the build up to Sheffield next year.

Mind you, if that was the case, you would have thought that the BBC would have done their own coverage, rather than just using the World Feed coverage. Not that I am complaining. Give me Chris Howarth commentating any day over Kat Downes and Robin Cousins!

I wonder if the BBC are going to do the same for the upcoming World Championships. I would expect they will. Given all the cutbacks, I don't think the BBC would go to the expense of sending people to Boston just to cover figure skating. And the time difference isn't ideal for commentating from Salford either.

But the big question is who will be commentating where come the Olympics? Who will be on the World Feed? Who will be on the BBC? Who will be on Eurosport / TNT Sports? Because every Olympics, the commentators have a habit of jumping to different ships to where they usually work. And you don't know where to tune into to hear your preferrred voice.

As long as we can hear Chris somewhere, I'll be happy.

CaroLiza_fan

 

[pesto]

I think the fact that the ISU has been using British commentators makes the decision not to send an additional Beeb person (or have them commentate at home from camera footage) easier. Any casual British viewer probably doesn't realise that they are just using the world feed.

In previous Olympics, the Beeb has used Robin Cousins... who hasn't always been as well-informed about the current state of play as more regular commentators.

I suppose there will also be a matter of contracts with the Olympics organisers. Will ISU have the right to do a world feed, or will national broadcasters make contracts directly with Milano-Cortina?

 

[FlossieH]

I suppose there will also be a matter of contracts with the Olympics organisers. Will ISU have the right to do a world feed, or will national broadcasters make contracts directly with Milano-Cortina?

I fear that TNT will hog it all for the UK/Ireland and will just allow a short 30 or 60 minute daily highlights package free-to-view on Quest...

 

[pesto]

GB's dismal performance last Winter Olympics - just two medals, both in curling - won't have helped make it a hot ticket.

 

[thatdarncat]

Pretty sure BBC has rights to the Olympics, so think we won't be able to hear the ISU coverage, guess it depends on how much the BBC decide to show of the skating. I have always loved Robin's commentary but Kat Downes I can't listen too she has no idea about skating and doesn't seem to bother do any research.

I am hoping we will get the world championships on the ISU feed . Going forward with Eurosport gone not sure what this means for watching skating in the future.

 

[FlossieH]

Robin is good in terms of his understanding of skating. His weakness is that his knowledge and understanding of the skaters themselves can be very patchy. Kat drives me scatty. She seems to take pride in her complete lack of knowledge and does not ever remember things which she has been told or make any effort to learn. I find it disrespectful to the sport and the skaters.

 

[CelticRose22]

The BBC took the World Feed last year for World Championships so they may do so this year. If they do; I hope they show all the Short programmes as well like they did for Euros (they'll be at a more reasonable hour too).

For next year's Euros I wonder if BBC might show some coverage on one of their main channels. OK I wouldn't expect loads of coverage but perhaps last 2 groups of some of the Free Skates. Would be a great opportunity to build up to the Olympics coverage too. Whatever your views on the commentators more eyes on the sport has to be a good thing. And BBC3 or BBC4 may be options; although BBC2 would be preferable.

Olympics coverage will be similar to Paris; BBC will only be able to show coverage on 1 channel and 1 further stream. Given the schedule and all the skating apart from Day 1 of the team event is in prime time with a friendly time zone; I think there will be a reasonable amount of coverage of skating; although if you want to see everything you'll really need to watch on TNT or the World Feed via a VPN (as that will be geo blocked). For Paris; Discovery+ was available on offer for a Month for £3.99 which was a bargain and essential to watch what you wanted to and not be restricted by the curated BBC1 feed. Belinda Noonan often commentates for the world feed for the Olympics and I quite like her. Mark Hanretty has said this year will be his last series on Dancing on Ice so I suspect he has commentary gigs for both Euros and Olympics; the latter could be for TNT or the World Feed.

 

[CelticRose22]

I think Ed is on a steady upward trajectory - I reckon he could definitely qualify. It would be good if he could get sent to more competitions to get more experience. I think he's done really well, especially given the lack of funding that British skaters get, and that he's only competed at 4 international events this season.

Ana and Luke were amazing at Europeans - they've improved such a lot in a very short time - I'd absolutely love for them to medal at Sheffield Euros next year.

I think the whole British team did a fantastic job - such a boost ahead of home Euros in 2026.

Agree it would be good to see Ed get more international competition. Does anyone know if GB is sending anyone to the Road to 2026 test event?

 

[FlossieH]

I don't think entries have been published yet.

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Agree it would be good to see Ed get more international competition. Does anyone know if GB is sending anyone to the Road to 2026 test event?

Don't know about the Olympic Test Event, but the entries for this week's European Youth Olympic Festival are finally up. And there are three skaters representing these islands.

Junior Ladies: Leilah PATTEN (GBR); Allie PETERSON (IRL)
Junior Men: Edward SOLOVYOV (GBR)

ALL THE BEST TO THEM!!!

CaroLiza_fan