2025 World Figure Skating Championships Free Dance

[4everchan]

I agree there is never a dull moment in ice dance. I absolutely love Piper and Paul (and I'm American) and hoped for their win. Their FD last year won at Worlds so I was a bit hopeful. I love how they dance in hold and loved their tango FD. Maybe if Chock/Bates retire after the Olympics, Piper and Paul will finally win Worlds next year and I plan to be there in Prague.

The legendary Bourne and Kraatz only finally earned a world title by sticking it out for one extra year after the Olympics.... They never even won an Olympic medal, even in years when they were considered favourites for the bronze....
Back then, there was the Eastern European judging block.

Looking at Dubreuil and Lauzon... I never really digested them losing the title to a team that became completely forgettable... I think it was the Bulgarians... let me guess... was the Eastern European judging block in action still then ?

It was refreshing to see Virtue and Moir break that pattern in 2010 and win the first North American gold medal in ice dance at the Olympics. Since then, other than one Italian win which again, many have said the title should have gone to Weaver-Poje, we have had pretty much three countries winning the titles, USA, Canada (well just one team really V/M) and France (also just one team, Pap-CIz) . SinKats also won in 2021 ... but my point is that since 2010, i had never felt, looking at the results, such a geographical block of judges voting together.

I hope we are not back to the cold war in ice dance.

That being said, my favorite FDs this year were Dune and the Finns' tango. Heartbreaking that we almost didn't get to see it, but the ice dance gods prevaile

 

[FSFan1999]

Looking at Dubreuil and Lauzon... I never really digested them losing the title to a team that became completely forgettable... I think it was the Bulgarians... let me guess... was the Eastern European judging block in action still then ?

off topic, but I will say for me other couples in that era went under the radar a bit up to that point. In a world of fair scoring, I see Delobel and Schoenfelder challenging for the title. Still, it was a bizarre judging period in general.

 

[IceDancingQueen]

The legendary Bourne and Kraatz only finally earned a world title by sticking it out for one extra year after the Olympics.... They never even won an Olympic medal, even in years when they were considered favourites for the bronze....
Back then, there was the Eastern European judging block.

Looking at Dubreuil and Lauzon... I never really digested them losing the title to a team that became completely forgettable... I think it was the Bulgarians... let me guess... was the Eastern European judging block in action still then ?

It was refreshing to see Virtue and Moir break that pattern in 2010 and win the first North American gold medal in ice dance at the Olympics. Since then, other than one Italian win which again, many have said the title should have gone to Weaver-Poje, we have had pretty much three countries winning the titles, USA, Canada (well just one team really V/M) and France (also just one team, Pap-CIz) . SinKats also won in 2021 ... but my point is that since 2010, i had never felt, looking at the results, such a geographical block of judges voting together.

I hope we are not back to the cold war in ice dance.

I actually really loved the Bulgarians. I’m not saying that they should have beat D/L both times for gold but they skated so close together winding in and out of hold that I thought they were worthy winners. Their career was cut short because Maxim drunk drove and killed a boy (horrible I know) so that is why they are not remembered but I think if they had continued they would have won some more world medals.

Shae and Vic did have errors sometimes that held them back at Worlds but that voting bloc did them dirty at the 1998 Olympics when they should have beat the French (who I also adored) for Bronze.

 

[4everchan]

I actually really loved the Bulgarians. I’m not saying that they should have beat D/L both times for gold but they skated so close together winding in and out of hold that I thought they were worthy winners. Their career was cut short because Maxim drunk drove and killed a boy (horrible I know) so that is why they are not remembered but I think if they had continued they would have won some more world medals.

Shae and Vic did have errors sometimes that held them back at Worlds but that voting bloc did them dirty at the 1998 Olympics when they should have beat the French (who I also adored) for Bronze.

omg.. i had no idea about Maxim.
I agree that one year, they should have won... the second year, D/L should have... i am not really so much into comparing the teams or even the fine details of performance but mostly the judging style of the days

 

[labgoat]

Looking at Dubreuil and Lauzon... I never really digested them losing the title to a team that became completely forgettable...

I absolutely adored their Somewhere In Time ( I've visited Mackinac Island where the movie was filmed several times) and At Last is such a timeless classic. They like my C/B had that height difference and made it work to their advantage. I cried for them when they had their lift mishap at the Olympics and had to withdraw. I was rooting for them to win.

 

[IceDancingQueen]

omg.. i had no idea about Maxim.
I agree that one year, they should have won... the second year, D/L should have... i am not really so much into comparing the teams or even the fine details of performance but mostly the judging style of the days

The Maxim thing was terrible. I really felt for Albena Denkova as she had her career cut short because of his idiocy.

Yeah I think D/L should have won the second time as well. And they would very likely have got the silver at the Olympics if they hadn’t had that horrible fall

 

[IceDancingQueen]

I absolutely adored their Somewhere In Time ( I've visited Mackinac Island where the movie was filmed several times) and At Last is such a timeless classic. They like my C/B had that height difference and made it work to their advantage. I cried for them when they had their lift mishap at the Olympics and had to withdraw. I was rooting for them to win.

Yeah I remember one commenter said that when C/B moved over to Montreal after 2018, Marie-France and Patrice were really able to console them over the fall because it happened to them too. And now look where C/B are. It’s a testament to never giving up in ice dance as you just never know how things might turn out. Especially with the longevity of teams these days. Like at one point C/B, G/P and G/F must have felt like they would never make the podium given the teams in front of them from their own countries.

 

[labgoat]

off topic, but I will say for me other couples in that era went under the radar a bit up to that point. In a world of fair scoring, I see Delobel and Schoenfelder challenging for the title. Still, it was a bizarre judging period in general.

2006 Worlds Results - just to go down the rabbit hole a bit..some famous names here

FPl. Name Nat. Points CD OD FD 1 Albena DENKOVA / Maxim STAVISKI BUL 199.14 1 1 3 2 Marie-France DUBREUIL / Patrice LAUZON CAN 198.69 2 3 1 3 Tanith BELBIN / Benjamin AGOSTO USA 196.74 3 4 4 4 Margarita DROBIAZKO / Povilas VANAGAS LTU 195.87 5 5 2 5 Isabelle DELOBEL / Olivier SCHOENFELDER FRA 195.44 4 2 5 6 Galit CHAIT / Sergei SAKHNOVSKI ISR 181.29 6 7 6 7 Oksana DOMNINA / Maxim SHABALIN RUS 178.39 7 6 7 8 Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI ITA 172.10 9 10 8 9 Melissa GREGORY / Denis PETUKHOV USA 171.06 10 9 10 10 Megan WING / Aaron LOWE CAN 170.51 8 8 11 11 Sinead KERR / John KERR GBR 167.83 12 11 9 12 Jana KHOKHLOVA / Sergei NOVITSKI RUS 162.15 11 16 12 13 Christina BEIER / William BEIER GER 154.94 13 14 13 14 Kristin FRASER / Igor LUKANIN AZE 154.28 14 13 15 15 Nathalie PECHALAT / Fabian BOURZAT FRA 154.00 15 12 17 16 Morgan MATTHEWS / Maxim ZAVOZIN USA 152.97 16 18 14 17 Nozomi WATANABE / Akiyuki KIDO JPN 152.96 17 15 16 18 Nora HOFFMANN / Attila ELEK HUN 150.78 18 17 18 19 Alexandra KAUC / Michal ZYCH POL 144.21 19 20 19 20 Alexandra ZARETSKI / Roman ZARETSKI ISR 140.14 24 22 20 21 Anna ZADOROZHNIUK / Sergei VERBILLO UKR 139.72 21 21 21 22 Xiaoyang YU / Chen WANG CHN 136.14 23 23 22 23 Elena ROMANOVSKAYA / Alexander GRACHEV RUS 135.43 20 19 24 24 Alla BEKNAZAROVA / Vladimir ZUEV UKR 132.00 22 24 23 25 Olga AKIMOVA / Alexander SHAKALOV UZB FNR 27 25 26 Laura MUNANA / Luke MUNANA MEX FNR 26 27 27 Kamila HAJKOVA / David VINCOUR CZE FNR 28 26 28 Natalie BUCK / Trent NELSON-BOND AUS FNR 29 28 29 Alisa ALLAPACH / Peter KONGKASEM THA FNR 30 29 WD Anastasia GREBENKINA / Vazgen AZROJAN ARM 25

 

[Mathman]

2006 Worlds Results - just to go down the rabbit hole a bit..some famous names here

Wow. That was an eye opener. I remember every one of the top eleven very, very well.

 

[labgoat]

Has anyone heard how Allison Reed is doing? She seemed in pain as she left the ice.

 

[4everchan]

@TontoK

Here is what Zach and Marjo said on French CBC after the program.

My translation

Marjorie : i felt great. I was very connected with the music and with Zach. i will have to look at the video to better understand these results
Zach : (my perception is that he is not happy with the score not with the way they skated.. he didn't mention that anything was off really or that there were technical issues) We fought... it's important to always fight even when we are tired. The score is the score, it is what it is. We will go back home and resume training and that's all.

 

[saine]

Has anyone heard how Allison Reed is doing? She seemed in pain as she left the ice.

She's in the second and third pictures on this post from Golden Skate's Instagram with Lilah Fear after the free dance:


I couldn't find a mention of injury so far, I'm assuming she is fine if she was able to attend the free dance yesterday.

 

[labgoat]

She's in the second and third pictures on this post from Golden Skate's Instagram with Lilah Fear after the free dance:


I couldn't find a mention of injury so far, I'm assuming she is fine if she was able to attend the free dance yesterday.

I’m so glad then. My heart still hurts for her and Saul.

 

[Mathman]

I'm probably in the minority that loved their mash-up RD.

Me, too, The rhythm dance (starting off with Rock around the Clock )_was a delight and showcased every thing I like about Madison, whom I have been rooting for ever since seeing her at local skating club shows in Detroit as a teenager before she even began competing as a junior.

 

[Mathman]

I love take five.. the issue i had with their FD is that they actually don't dance in 5

is that possible? (Oh, wait...Patrick). I took up playing the bass fiddle in high school just so I could play the bass part in our little jazz combo. I just wish someone would do Rondo-a-la-Turk (9/8 time) from the same album.

 

[Mathman]

The legendary Bourne and Kraatz only finally earned a world title...

The legendary B&K, though they never got the marks they deserved, nevertheless broke through the dyke that was shutting out North America from the ice dancing establishment. Belbin and Agosto crertainly benefited and then it was on to Virtie & Moir and Davis & White. None of that would have happened if it hadn't been for Boourne and Kraaatz laboring in the trenches all those years.

 

[labgoat]

Me, too, The rhythm dance (starting off with Rock around the Clock )_was a delight and showcased every thing I like about Madison, whom I have been rooting for ever since seeing her at local skating club shows in Detroit as a teenager before she even began competing as a junior.

You've been a fan as long as I have of them. My favorite thing was that they actually went and learned the dances on the floor and found out that they loved dancing them. No wonder the program works so well once they tamed the music bingo.

By the by I remember Madi Hubbell & Zach Donohue having a similar problem at first with their hip-hop RD - too many music cuts. What they ended up with at the end was really good and a lot of fun also.

 

[Joubabe]

My goodness, F/G are going to be world medallists

The tech score is lower than CPom

I think I'm officially over the choreo elements in the FD. The criteria are too vague, the scoring is inherently subjective, a lot of the teams end up doing similar elements that don't even match the music, and they have far too big of a point maximum relative to the other leveled elements. I hope the ISU revisits the FD element rules during the next Congress and perhaps introduces new leveled elements that incorporate a pattern dance, compulsories, or other classic dance material. Jean-Luc Baker said on the practice stream yesterday that he feels we are losing some of the nature of ice dance, and I have to agree, as much as I hate to be doom and gloom-y. I understand that the ISU is trying to create moments that go viral, and in rare instances like with Smart/Dieck, it works really well in creating these epic, impactful programs, but these programs are so similar and I think fans and skaters are getting really confused and upset by the scoring for good reason. It's a lot easier to understand that you hopped a turn and dropped a level than to understand why you only got +2 on a choreo element.

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

I would have put Spain for third for Bronze medal.

Actually, the judges did reward Smart/Dieck with 3rd for their wonderful FD. They were 8th in the RD, which is not bad, but the resultant math works out to 6th overall for Olivia/ Tim. Still, they were awarded a small bronze medal for their FD performance, and they seem very happy for their upward progress this season. Romain should be commended for his choreo for their FD.

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

She needs to learn from Kirsten MT, who's quoted as saying "I hope to be remembered as a good teammate, as somebody who won with class and lost with dignity."

Interesting coming from Kirsten M-T Firus, as she and Marinaro were clearly miffed when Eric Radford came back to rep Canada for the 2021-2022 Olympic season with Vanessa James.