Replay Lounge 2025 GP Finlandia Trophy

[reneerose]

Piper's twizzles had the following 4 errors that led to a level base - these are nitpicky but are discernable if you know what you're looking for.
1. In the first twizzle her arm drops below her shoulder which is the loss of a feature.
2. In the second twizzle the rotation is checked, and her arms drop from the out in front in feature which is the loss of 2 levels.
3. In the third twizzle there is another check of rotation which negates that feature.
I didn't get all of these by myself, and have to give credit to Tony & Thomas the Skating Session for putting the slow motion video in their video from the rhythm dance to explain the call.

Mark Hanretty pointed these out during the Peacock streaming of the rhythm dance. I wouldn't have noticed any of these either had he not explained them during the replay clips of their program.

 

[reneerose]

I have to say out of the most popular trio of commentators (Mark/Chris/Ted), I like Mark the best. He is enthusiastic, but not over the top, he highlights strenghts of every skater, including non-jumping elements, hard footwork, quality transitions, he is good at explaining the bigger picture of current skating field and he fills "empty" moments with facts about skaters' background that help viewers get to know them more and understand their struggles and the weight of their success. I can't tell if he is good with pairs and ice dance, because I don't watch them, but in singles I enjoy his company.

I love Mark too. He's great commentating for the other figure skating disciplines too, just the perfect balance of information relayed with great enthusiasm, as you say. I think he is like the Scottish Scott Hamilton variety of commentator. He's an ice dancer himself and aerial silks artist. I appreciate the insight on the skaters' background too -- interesting to find out a little about skaters' lives or professions outside of skating since the upcoming Olympics have been the spur for people to take breaks from their "real" lives to compete.

 

[lariko]

My mom just called me to tell me breathlessly that 'Shmolkin' is back

 

[skatingguy]

Then how Vadim got same level as Emiliea in his twizzles?

Best explanation is that they didn't review their twizzles to see the checked rotation on Vadym's 2nd twizzle. Based on that it should have been level 3, but only the technical panel could tell you for sure.

 

[Mathman]

Lots of trouble on triple Axels for the men.

Gogolev and Sardovsjy rocked!

 

[ladyjane]

Just watched the FD, and it was another hoot scoring wise. Rather low again, but that was expected after yesterday.

I do love Phebe and James. On the whole they keep on going up, even if they were better last week.
Reasons this time. I was again impressed by Oona and Gage's Godfather FD. Impressive. It's always a joy to watch Yuka and Juno, and today was no exception. I love the funny bit which are almost falls. I am no real fan of Diana and Gleb but their FD this year must turn heads, it's just beautiful. Great to see that even with these low scores across the field, they got rewarded for that. I don't get the low scores for Natalie and Filip, I thought it was a fun ID. Sure there was a little mishap with the one foot turns, but not that bad. Not a real mistake! I must say, I love Maia's Dress. I thought Maia and Alex's FD was better than before. Olivia and Tims's Dune part II is just wonderful, while I must admit to loving Emilea and Vadym's Romeo and Juliet. Funny though that Emilea got a higer level for the one turn than Vadym who is the more experienced ID'er (former World Junior Champion after all). I love Vincent, and am so glad that Piper and Paul brought it back. Happy they changed the problematic lift too. No problems what-so-ever today. Still some strange twizzle calls. And Laurence and Guillaume's skate was just exquisite, no other words for it.

Enjoyable watch, that's my conclusion.

 

[moonvine]

What Is with my fiances quad toe?

 

[gsk8]

Our coverage is up!

Germany's Hase and Volodin capture fourth Grand Prix gold in Helsinki

2025 Finlandia Trophy: Pairs Figure Skating Germany's Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin captured their fourth individual gold in the Grand Prix at

www.goldenskate.com

Japan's Yuma Kagiyama defends Finlandia Trophy title

2025 Finlandia Trophy: Men's Figure Skating Yuma Kagiyama of Japan defended his title at 2025 Finlandia Trophy on Saturday in Helsinki, taking his eighth

www.goldenskate.com

Mone Chiba strikes Grand Prix gold again in Helsinki

2025 Finlandia Trophy: Women's Figure Skating Mone Chiba of Japan struck gold again, winning her second consecutive Grand Prix gold at 2025 Finlandia

www.goldenskate.com

Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron take second consecutive Grand Prix gold at Finlandia Trophy

2025 Finlandia Trophy: Ice Dance Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron of France took their second consecutive Grand Prix gold on Saturday in

www.goldenskate.com

 

[Mathman]

Mone Chiba strikes Grand Prix gold again in Helsinki

2025 Finlandia Trophy: Women's Figure Skating Mone Chiba of Japan struck gold again, winning her second consecutive Grand Prix gold at 2025 Finlandia

www.goldenskate.com

This quote from Amber Glen was an interesting insight.

Glenn felt the ice was “soft” compared to “hard and slippery.”

“So, you slide a lot more,” she explained. “Whereas a lot of us are used to harder ice because we share with hockey skaters and all that. So, it’s a little harder to get up in the air. Especially on picks, jumps are a lot harder. Edge jumps are fine..."

 

[4everchan]

Piper said it well. Thank you for the recaps @gsk8

This is why I personally feel frustrated : I agree with her statement that the officials need to be accountable for what they do to the athletes, just like the athletes need to be accountable for everything they do on the ice.

There is no way in this world that any judge should have placed their FD in 5th place like the French judge did. It's plain disgusting, and Piper again is right, if pushes long time fans like myself, further and further away from the sport.

I felt watching ice dance the last two weekends very mentally draining due to the judging and it's not the feeling fans should feel, especially when one of the official is the ISU Ice Dance Chair (not sure what his title is exactly).

Even Mark today, was trying to navigate through all of this mess. He did okay.

 

[reneerose]

I wonder what Andreas did to his hand in the Men's Free Skate warm up to cause the bleeding to his hand. I still loved his skate.

 

[Miya88]

canadians are not important, at all ...they are not fighting for gold, it is obvious. Let's not be childish.
Americans WANT gold for C\B.
Chock and Bates should have never been above FB and Cizeron in any competition. If French are being hold back in short , they are done..

 

[4everchan]

canadians are not important, at all ...they are not fighting for gold, it is obvious. Let's not be childish.
Americans WANT gold for C\B.
Chock and Bates should have never been above FB and Cizeron in any competition. If French are being hold back in short , they are done..

This is exactly the kind of attitude that I personally do not support. Every single team deserves to be judged fairly no matter if they are fighting for gold or not. Athletes spend countless hours, energy, money on their Olympic dreams, 4 years cycle by 4 years cycle and they should be treated equally and fairly. Athletes have a code of conduct to abide by. They are submitted to anti-doping protocols. They are supposed to compete ethically. When the officials do not seem to be doing that, it tastes very bitter.

I feel strongly that all the athletes are penalized by the officials' behaviour because the winners also cannot savour their win fully.
I hope that GPF and Olympics will be judged more equitably and that the shenanigans we have seen this weekend will be addressed. The ISU owes it to the fans regardless of said fans biases.

And for the records, Piper and Paul finished only 2 points away from FBC here despite a bunch of dubious calls and the French and American judges placing them behind much weaker teams. So in my opinion, it's short-sighted to call them off the race right away.

I am so proud of Piper for having the guts to say things out loud. As she said, it's time athletes start speaking up. Who else will ?

The silence culture about judging need to stop. Judges need to be made more accountable for what they do to the athletes. We know who they are at this point, we have all the numbers, the rankings, the calls made in front of us. The ISU needs to step in before this behaviour drives even more fans away. It's not by simplifying ice dance and bringing ridiculous decades themes that they will open up the sport to the masses if the judging doesn't support the athletes' efforts.

Of course, this is my opinion and I am more than happy to share it

 

[rain]

Piper said it well. Thank you for the recaps @gsk8

This is why I personally feel frustrated : I agree with her statement that the officials need to be accountable for what they do to the athletes, just like the athletes need to be accountable for everything they do on the ice.

There is no way in this world that any judge should have placed their FD in 5th place like the French judge did. It's plain disgusting, and Piper again is right, if pushes long time fans like myself, further and further away from the sport.

I felt watching ice dance the last two weekends very mentally draining due to the judging and it's not the feeling fans should feel, especially when one of the official is the ISU Ice Dance Chair (not sure what his title is exactly).

Even Mark today, was trying to navigate through all of this mess. He did okay.

More and more I don't watch full competitions. I watch programs that I know I'm going to like and often even skip the scores.

 

[4everchan]

More and more I don't watch full competitions. I watch programs that I know I'm going to like and often even skip the scores.

I think I am reacting strongly because I am just about to revert to that mode too and that would really really make me sad after 3 decades of being a fan... I had a nap this afternoon because I woke up very early to watch all of Finlandia... and I was like " wow.. sleep is more important and I should never wake up early ever again if I am not treated respectfully as. fan with officials making such moves... and then I imagined how athletes must feel... Terrible. And final thought I had after my nap is that I would probably enjoy watching other sports in Milano and that I shouldn't worry too much about figure skating and just enjoy these other sports I like too where I don't feel like I am taken for granted and too idiotic not to see what's going on with the scorecards.

 

[SmileHappy34]

Wow wonderful skating from women.. their national will be brutal. So many women capable ,so many different outcomes. From what will judges think if dontvwin or youngster that can't go places ahead of the pencil in.
Beautiful skating from Mone, rino and amber. Loving nice, bradie working it, rion trying to hard jump to soon, lorine nice
The Finnish Oliva, Sophia, Ida wow great job.

Men for me pretty much set medal nothing changed. Be harder to upstairs
Especially Yuma and adam
Jason could be better but good , Jimmy sorry not ur skate
Matteo timing decent skate
Vlattern wonderful try
Sotanot ur day either
Roman and Stephen keep improving great job
Mikhail sorry I confused u with Shaidrov good skate
Denis wonderful

 

[SmileHappy34]

Pairs happy for u.s. to keep together
Congratulations Hase Volidin
Great job
Canada wonderful
Italy keep it up

 

[Miya88]

This is exactly the kind of attitude that I personally do not support. Every single team deserves to be judged fairly no matter if they are fighting for gold or not. Athletes spend countless hours, energy, money on their Olympic dreams, 4 years cycle by 4 years cycle and they should be treated equally and fairly. Athletes have a code of conduct to abide by. They are submitted to anti-doping protocols. They are supposed to compete ethically. When the officials do not seem to be doing that, it tastes very bitter.

I feel strongly that all the athletes are penalized by the officials' behaviour because the winners also cannot savour their win fully.
I hope that GPF and Olympics will be judged more equitably and that the shenanigans we have seen this weekend will be addressed. The ISU owes it to the fans regardless of said fans biases.

And for the records, Piper and Paul finished only 2 points away from FBC here despite a bunch of dubious calls and the French and American judges placing them behind much weaker teams. So in my opinion, it's short-sighted to call them off the race right away.

I am so proud of Piper for having the guts to say things out loud. As she said, it's time athletes start speaking up. Who else will ?

The silence culture about judging need to stop. Judges need to be made more accountable for what they do to the athletes. We know how they are at this point, we have all the numbers, the rankings, the calls made in front of us. The ISU needs to step in before this behaviour drives even more fans away. It's not by simplifying ice dance and brining ridiculous decades themes that they will open up the sport to the masses if the judges doesn't support the athletes' efforts.

Of course, this is my opinion and I am more than happy to share it

not important because her score didnt even matter in the end

I bet you dont mind when V/M had 10s with a fall but you are angry that French judge got 8,75 ?


You said that "Piper and Paul finished only 2 points away from FBC" that means the scores was fair or not? Because I dont understand, you should be glad.
Or you think the score was unfair and the canadians should lead afterall.
This is very good score for canadian people, but unfair for french fans.

Most important Z/k had the highest BV, what a coincidence

 

[SmileHappy34]

Dance
Personally I would have put Giles and Poirer 1st , france 2nd
The u.s means 3 , 4
Canada did well, France good , the US. Wonderful make it hard to fill out team so many great teams so few spots

Smart Dieck Wonderful and powerful
Finnish fun and entertaining

The whole event deserves 100 and cheers and applause and appreciation.

 

[4everchan]

not important because her score didnt even matter in the end

This is not true. Yes, the outliers are discarded. But this is exactly how it does matter. If some judges give on purpose very low scores, and they were judging other very highly, the average scores are shifted up or down. This is exactly how, for instance, a team can place a few tenths ahead in the rhythm dance, just like it happened here. 5 judges out of 9 placed Piper and Paul in first place for the RD...yet, FBC outscored them. It does matter. Every score matters, even the ones that get thrown away.