2025 World Championships Practice Reports | Page 17 | Golden Skate

2025 World Championships Practice Reports

This practice rink is so tiny, I love playing "spot the skater" and "spot the media member" - shout out to Mihhail Selevko poking his head out from behind the warmup area to spy on the dancers while he's doing some stretches. Tommy Guarino-Sabate is getting in on the dance action too.
 
Resurface
Ice Dance RD or FD - Practice Rink
Warm-up Group 7

27 Juulia TURKKILA / Matthias VERSLUIS FIN - Very dancey and flowy, although not powerful but elegant and graceful. Painting with their blades. This dance may seem easy, less is more but so well done. Kudos to Massimo Scali. Makes you think you could do this dance or recall it from the past. They use all of the instrumentals.
28 Caroline GREEN / Michael PARSONS USA - Nice ice coverage on those twizzles. Being smaller Michael needs to not let his shoulders come up. KH says don't wear your shoulders as earrings. Caroline performs this style very well. This team has such clean turns and clarity of edge in and out of their turns - solid and grounded. Watch the ankle - knee over toe.
29 Christina CARREIRA / Anthony PONOMARENKO USA - Very fun - Christina embodies her character very well. Solid twizzles. The partial step is the weakest part not enough ice flow and edge coverage but not enough character here - a bit forced. Fast music - but they let loose. Be in control, but do not control your skating even if the music is fast. Their playfulness is their best quality and closest to their personalities.
30 Allison REED / Saulius AMBRULEVICIUS LTU - No music cuts in their music. So important to really bring the character and heat for one piece of music. Saul really sells this. They play to all sides of the arena. Intricate roll in and out of partnering is very hard and done by very few teams other than Chock & Bates.
31 Marjorie LAJOIE / Zachary LAGHA CAN - A powerhouse team- such fun spitfires. Very Austin Powers. Zach needs to work to keep his shoulders down - the jacket can negatively show this. They are fearless to skate very close together. Marjo tracks him so well. JLB needs more fun from Zach to warm up his energy - go to the groovy place.

On good skating: Partnering is so overlooked. When there is no push and pull and always going in the same direction that is lesser skating. Energy should not stop and start but be more variable. There is rise and fall to great skating. Be an ocean not a pond.

Both Matthias & Saulius were previous freestylers
 
Last edited:
This practice rink is so tiny, I love playing "spot the skater" and "spot the media member" - shout out to Mihhail Selevko poking his head out from behind the warmup area to spy on the dancers while he's doing some stretches. Tommy Guarino-Sabate is getting in on the dance action too.
It’s such fun, isn’t it? I saw Dr Tenley Albright and Susanna Rakkamo watching men’s practice the other day!
 
Piper and Paul have the pretty, subtly floral costumes on at practice this morning. (I know all you fashionistas have been waiting to hear :) )
And Tim Dieck has a new shirt for the RD, a sort of maroon color that coordinates better with Olivia’s costume.
Oh, thank you from someone deeply invested in RD costumes guessing game for Piper and Paul!
oh gosh, now I predict either lifeguards or scuba suits fir the real thing later...with scuba suits and LED boards giving me war flashbacks from GPF...
 
Ice Dance RD or FD - Practice Rink
Warm-up Group 8

32 Evgeniia LOPAREVA / Geoffrey BRISSAUD FRA - Hobbies existential crises. Very French material - so fun, different and innovative. Her posture is traditional with great, twizzles are cool. Choctaw in the corner is begging to be called according to JLB. They choose weird turns on purpose. Midline was marked. They are having so much fun.
33 Piper GILLES / Paul POIRIER CAN - Another Barbie inspired RD seasoned like a steak. They are going quite fast today with good ice coverage today. Paul is more old school controlled back. JLB wants him to loosen up and give us more surfer and less proper. Beautiful change edge and unique tracking on the rocker. Piper is giving us excellent character. Similar to the Finn team in that simple and pure is better.
34 Madison CHOCK / Evan BATES USA - Wobbles from Madi on twizzles. Lots of music changes but the idea of a journey is intact. This midline step is the highlight of this program and the field - so effective and audience friendly. Madi uses her eyes so well. They need to keep the energy up for the PST to pull the marks. SO much speed in the lift.
35 Lilah FEAR / Lewis GIBSON GBR - Spelling to start. They have worked a lot on their partnering. They are now solid and showing their skating ability improvement. Little disconnect on the change edge before she was ready. His bracket was a bit shaky.
36 Charlene GUIGNARD / Marco FABBRI ITA -

I was watching on delay due to stopping to type and my feed cut off before I saw Charlene & Marco and I can't go back to it to transcribe the comments. It was not intentional on my part.
 
Last edited:
Oh, thank you from someone deeply invested in RD costumes guessing game for Piper and Paul!
oh gosh, now I predict either lifeguards or scuba suits fir the real thing later...with scuba suits and LED boards giving me war flashbacks from GPF...
I actually thought of you, and your beautiful crowns, when I saw these costumes. Lovely subtle colors, Piper pairs her skirt with a soft pink top, a perfect color palette for crowns :)
 
I actually thought of you, and your beautiful crowns, when I saw these costumes. Lovely subtle colors, Piper pairs her skirt with a soft pink top, a perfect color palette for crowns :)
Wish I was there, sneaking these crowns and feeling adrenaline instrad of current mix of sadness and nerves :laugh:, but it is what it is. You are not the first person to let me know they thought of me and the crowns this week and it truly makes me feel so much better, so THANK YOU :)
Actually...I'm toying with the idea of making crowns matching all 4 versions of the RD costume, just for the fun ;)
 
Jean Paul is so pro-IAM and pro-American, it’s really gross favoritism and he was critical toward Gilles/Poirier and Guignard/Fabbri. Even though Madi struggled with the 2nd twizzle, he claims C/B are in a class of their own. :rolleye: :rolleyes: Marco struggled with two of the twizzles in their sequence and Jean-Paul says they have the weakest RD in the group. He was also noticeably pro-Fear/Gibson. Baker/Hawayek say C/B are the “most professional, down-to-earth, kind”, really?? What is this? If it was US Nationals, it would be appropriate chatter, but this is a World Championship. Ugh, the American propaganda is so sickening.
 
Jean Paul is so pro-IAM and pro-American, it’s really gross favoritism and he was critical toward Gilles/Poirier and Guignard/Fabbri. Even though Madi struggled with the 2nd twizzle, he claims C/B are in a class of their own. :rolleye: :rolleyes: Marco struggled with two of the twizzles in their sequence and Jean-Paul says they have the weakest RD in the group. He was also noticeably pro-Fear/Gibson. Baker/Hawayek say C/B are the “most professional, down-to-earth, kind”, really?? What is this? If it was US Nationals, it would be appropriate chatter, but this is a World Championship. Ugh, the American propaganda is so sickening.
I respect your opinion, but having watched the cam for several groups, don’t share it. I felt that Jean Luc and Kaitlin were careful to note the pluses and minuses of each team. Naturally, being human, there are things they particularly enjoy, and others that bother them. I’m the same way!
 
I am not endorsing the commentary remarks in any way - just documenting them for your consideration - NOT AS PROPAGANDA - any attempt to paint me that way is unfair to me as I have no advance knowledge of what the commentators have to say. If you have alternative commentary please feel free to take three or four hours to transcribe it as I did. If you have a problem with me then block me do not send me hate mail - I will not be bullied for giving my time freely.
My comments were directed at the poster above, not at you, @labgoat.
 
Jean Paul is so pro-IAM and pro-American, it’s really gross favoritism and he was critical toward Gilles/Poirier and Guignard/Fabbri. Even though Madi struggled with the 2nd twizzle, he claims C/B are in a class of their own. :rolleye: :rolleyes: Marco struggled with two of the twizzles in their sequence and Jean-Paul says they have the weakest RD in the group. He was also noticeably pro-Fear/Gibson. Baker/Hawayek say C/B are the “most professional, down-to-earth, kind”, really?? What is this? If it was US Nationals, it would be appropriate chatter, but this is a World Championship. Ugh, the American propaganda is so sickening.
I am not endorsing the commentary remarks in any way - just documenting them for your consideration - NOT AS PROPAGANDA - any attempt to paint me that way is unfair to me as I have no advance knowledge of what the commentators have to say. If you have alternative commentary please feel free to take three or four hours to transcribe it as I did. If you have a problem with me then block me do not send me hate mail - I will not be bullied for giving my time freely.
 
Thanks @labgoat for your wonderful summaries. I really appreciate it! It must be a lot of work and tiring . The commentary was insightful and informative.

About JLB 's opinions being propaganda and biased. .. We are all biased aren't we? We are biased by our likes and dislikes, our environment, background etc etc. but JLB's commentary doesn't seem to come from a place of hate or a desire to tear down. He's giving comments that a coach or advisor might make to students in order to help them improve. I'm a huge fan of the Italians and JLB was quite critical of their material ( many people hate it, he's hardly alone) but he also mentioned their incredible technical skills and skating quality. I might not share his opinion ( I don't mind their RD probably because I'm just a sucker for their basics and speed) but I think these are just his genuine opinions. Someone liking something you don't isn't a crime neither is someone disliking something you enjoy. It's normal.
 
I am not endorsing the commentary remarks in any way - just documenting them for your consideration - NOT AS PROPAGANDA - any attempt to paint me that way is unfair to me as I have no advance knowledge of what the commentators have to say. If you have alternative commentary please feel free to take three or four hours to transcribe it as I did. If you have a problem with me then block me do not send me hate mail - I will not be bullied for giving my time freely.
Labgoat, my post was not directed at you. I was watching the practice broadcast on peacock and giving my impressions of the commentary from Jean Luc and Kaitlin. I am not a fan of American broadcasters blatantly criticizing the direct competition of the Americans just because they are not American or because they do not train at the Ice Academy of Montreal. I found their comments unprofessional and egregiously biased. The comments that Chock/Bates are the most professional, down-to-earth, and nice and in a league of their own went too far. What? Are Gilles/Poirier and Guignard/Fabbri not professional or nice people? They were more critical than complimentary towards the Canadians and Italians. Please, enough!
 
Last edited:
General practice notes from groups 1&2, since Jackie won't be covering those two:

G1
Daiwai Dai skated well - some really nice jumps, he had a few pops but overall looks really strong
Vladimir Samoilov marked his program, so nothing to report here
Mihhail Selevko started out with a pop and a fall on his quad attempts, but the rest of the jumps were nice, including two 3As and all of his combinations were triples on the back-end.
Tatsuya fell on the 4S, did a 3S on his next attempt, turned out of the 3A but landed the next one in combination, along with a 3Lz+3T, 3F, and a 3S. He did a mostly-full runthrough, just marking one spin - hopefully he can have a good skate tomorrow now that he's done his job and made the free skate. He's still struggling with his jumps in practice, though.
Fedir pops his opening 4Lz attempt and falls on the second one - it's huge, though, he nearly cleared the boards on that attempt. 1A (looked intentional), 3Lz (slips off the back edge, falls), 3A+2A+2A+SEQ, 3F - definitely a rough practice and took two hard falls in that runthrough, but his jumps are really nice when they are landed.
Tommy-Llorenc Guarino Sabate - COTTON-EYED JOE! This program is going to go crazy in the arena - his triples look really solid and it's such a fun music selection, just steps out of the 3Lz+3T. He genuinely might get a standing ovation for that choreo sequence - American love Cotton-Eyed Joe.

G2

Roman Sadovsky: marks his opening jumps with intentional doubles, walks through most of the second half of the program. This program is so gorgeous, I love the music and there are so many beautiful moments peppered throughout. The step sequence is utterly divine - I can't wait to see this program tomorrow. It's not surprising he marked through most of his runthrough considering he's the first skater out.
Daniel Grassl takes his starting position and then immediately takes off his pullover :LOL:. He bypasses most of the choreo to practice the jumps - 4Loq (hangs on), 3A+3T, 3A (forwards, hand), 3Lo+3T, 3Lz into the step sequence - I'd like to see a bit more intentionality in some of the movements in the steps, he will have great leg placement on the twizzles but then a really swingy free leg on the cluster right after. Overall, a strong runthrough for Daniel.
Vladimir Litvinsev: his bizarre Nutcracker FS opens strongly with a 4T+3T, 4T (hangs on), 1A (popped), 3A+1Eu+3S, 3F+2A+SEQ, 3Lz. He seems to be having some sort of injury issue - like with the past few sessions, he's slowed down halfway through the program and is skating around wincing a little bit. It doesn't show in his jumps at all - the choreography seems a bit half-hearted, but his step sequence is solid.
Adam Hagara: marks quad attempt - probably a toe or sal - 3A+2T, 3F+3T, 3A, marks lutz, 3F (out of a knee slide!), 3Lo. A very solid runthrough technically for Adam - a simpler but cleaner skate could really see him rise if we have a messy men's free tomorrow.
Andreas Nordeback: such gorgeous quality of movement right from the off. Marks axel, 3A, 1F, 3Lo, great CSSp, but nearly loses the camel spin after overcooking the butterfly entry, marked axel, lutz, loop?. His consistency has improved so much this season.
Deniss Vasiljevs: marked sal, lutz, axel, 3F, marked axel, lutz, loop. This program (like all his programs) is so enjoyable, I love the choreo sequence and his commitment to good, held positions, as well as its authenticity to the ballet.
 
Back
Top