Kriengkrairut, Giulietti-Schmitt Move to Novi, Mi & Shpilband

[KKonas]

Icenetwork.com announces that Kriengkrairut&Giuletti-Schmitt have left their coaches Yasa & Yuri to move to Shpilband in the hopes of taking their skating to the next level.

I think it's a good move as they seem to have stagnated in Ann Arbor with Yasa & Yuri. Shpilband will add more difficulty and certainly speed to their programs.

 

[Whitneyskates]

Maybe in Novi they'll discover that it is possible to skate to music other than today's top 40.

 

[dorispulaski]

They've always done such wonderful lifts, but they never get the levels the skaters ahead of them do. I am so hoping that Igor can add the speed and tech levels they haven't had.

And since Lynn graduated from college, this next season would definitely be the season for them to really take things to another level. I hope that they will get a GP invitation!

 

[Ziggy]

Maybe in Novi they'll discover that it is possible to skate to music other than today's top 40.

Hopefully they won't because we have far too many teams already skating to overused old crap.

 

[Mathman]

So, with the change of scenery can they overtake Shib & Shib, Chock & Bates or Hubbell & Donohue?

 

[KKonas]

So, with the change of scenery can they overtake Shib & Shib, Chock & Bates or Hubbell & Donohue?

I guess we will just have to wait and see what improvements Shpilband can make by next season.

 

[Skater Boy]

I doubt they can take over all three in one year. Poor Shibs squared. Nice people too. They look like they are falling down the ladder and sadly that "evil" bronze medal that has been the jinx of many is roaring its ugly head (okay not all bronze medals are horrible but we have seen so many bronze medallists especially in dance and then disaster ie. a few years ago the Israeli team, the german team, the Ukranians I think.

 

[dorispulaski]

The Ukrainians did not suffer by their medal (Grushina & Goncharov)
They followed up their bronze at Worlds with a bronze at the Olympics the next year & retired
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elena_Grushina#Results

And the Germans (Winkler & Lohse) won a bronze and retired, so it's unknown how the bronze would have affected their future chances.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kati_Winkler#Results

It was fatal for Chait & Sakhonovsky
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galit_Chait#Competitive_highlights

After their bronze, they finished 6th, 7th, 6th and 6th in successive Worlds.

But people forget how young the Shibs are. Maia is just 18; very young for a dancer, and making adjustments to college this year. In fact, both Shib sibs are still making adjustments to growth changes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Shibutani
This is the first Jr. Worlds that the Shibs would have been ineligible for; if Alex had been born 3 months later, they'd be eligible for this year's junior worlds, too.

 

[Buttercup]

Smart move. They're a lovely team, but if they're serious about moving up, especially post-Sochi, they need to make a change.

I doubt they can take over all three in one year. Poor Shibs squared. Nice people too. They look like they are falling down the ladder and sadly that "evil" bronze medal that has been the jinx of many is roaring its ugly head (okay not all bronze medals are horrible but we have seen so many bronze medallists especially in dance and then disaster ie. a few years ago the Israeli team, the german team, the Ukranians I think.

Shibs is already the plural version. Shibs squared is thus incorrect as it suggests that there are four of them - a mini-synchro team!

What killed C/S were the accusations of corruption (which had other skaters turning on them) and the lack of any sort of effective politikking push. That combination was not survivable. What's killing the Shibs is being the third team at Canton and getting caught on the wrong side of the Igor and Marina split - Igor's top NA team is in direct competition with the Shibs, and Marina is busy with V/M and D/W. Chock/Bates were very smart to go with Igor right off the bat.

 

[Mathman]

Shibs is already the plural version. Shibs squared is thus incorrect as it suggests that there are four of them - a mini-synchro team!

Or is it 8? (Shib+Shib)[SUP]2[/SUP] = 4 Shib[SUP]2[/SUP].

What's killing the Shibs is being the third team at Canton and getting caught on the wrong side of the Igor and Marina split - Igor's top NA team is in direct competition with the Shibs, and Marina is busy with V/M and D/W. Chock/Bates were very smart to go with Igor right off the bat.

There may even be more to it than that. Igor's activities prior to the split cast doubt on the assumption that the Shibs would automatically move up to number one if Virtue and Moir and Davis and White retired after Sochi.

 

[dorispulaski]

Which activities of Igor prior to the split?

Taking on C&L and R&T was after the split.

 

[Mathman]

When the announcement of Igor's departure was made, the owner and the manager of the rink made prominent and explicit mention of the fact that "the skaters" were upset about Igor taking on the training of younger teams, independent of Zoueva. This was initially given as the primary reason why Igor was fired.

As I recall, later on they were forced to downplay this motive when the skaters, notably Davis and White, said they didn't know anything about it and were as surprised as anyone at the whole blow-up.

 

[Buttercup]

Or is it 8? (Shib+Shib)[SUP]2[/SUP] = 4 Shib[SUP]2[/SUP].

Doesn't (Shib+Shib)[SUP]2[/SUP] work out to 2[SUP]2[/SUP], though? There are two Shibs, square that and you get 4. How did you arrive at 4 Shibs[SUP]2[/SUP]?

An Army of Shibs. They should do that for their Youtube channel.

There may even be more to it than that. Igor's activities prior to the split cast doubt on the assumption that the Shibs would automatically move up to number one if Virtue and Moir and Davis and White retired after Sochi.

I have seen rumors that Mama Shib was none too happy with Igor, but this being a rumor, and such things being frowned upon at GS...

 

[Mathman]

Doesn't (Shib+Shib)[SUP]2[/SUP] work out to 2[SUP]2[/SUP], though? There are two Shibs, square that and you get 4.?

But you don't get four Shibs, you get four square Shibs. I'm not sure what a square Shib is, but anyway...

I have seen rumors that Mama Shib was none too happy with Igor, but this being a rumor, and such things being frowned upon at GS...

I know. I am going to have to give myself an infraction. Don't be surprised if a couple of posts disappear from this thread soon. Rumors are just too much fun to resist.

 

[Buttercup]

Don't be surprised if a couple of posts disappear from this thread soon. Rumors are just too much fun to resist.

Nooooo! Edit my post if you must, but leave the Army of Shibs for posterity!

 

[CoyoteChris]

But I thought they (Shibs squared) were married and she was having twins????? That would explain the squrared of a plural. It just goes to show you one cant believe everything thats on the web nowadays....

 

[ice coverage]

graciesfriend ‏@graciesfriend

@lynn_logan_usa Hope you have lots of fun and success with your new coach! #myfaveusadanceteam
3:59 PM - Feb 26, 2013
​

LynnK LoganGS ‏@lynn_logan_usa

@graciesfriend thank you so much! It already has proved to be as such.
6:21 p.m. - Feb 26, 2013
​

BTW, if anyone wants to read the official USFS announcement from Feb 25:

http://www.usfsa.org/Story.asp?id=49023&type=media​

[p.s. CoyoteChris, are you by any chance confusing Kriengkrairut with Megan Wing of Canada, who now coaches ice dance with her husband? As partners on the ice, Wing/Lowe had a long and successful competitive career, and I think that they have very young twins.
Within just the last few days, Pj Kwong posted a new interview (text and video versions) with W/L. http://www.cbc.ca/sports/figureskat...ians-wing-lowe-the-wizards-of-ice-dance.html]

 

[CoyoteChris]

Sorry, I was making a very bad joke about the Shibs....my bad..I have been talking with Lynn and they are excited and I do wish them the best....I would say in general when someone coaches me, and then another person coaches me, I see that some coaches have strengths and weaknesses and some see things in my performance that others dont....then a third coach comes along and says, Hey do you know you are doing so in so? And a lightbulb goes on....change can be good....
Love to Emily S. Where ever you are....tweet tweet.

graciesfriend ‏@graciesfriend

@lynn_logan_usa Hope you have lots of fun and success with your new coach! #myfaveusadanceteam
3:59 PM - Feb 26, 2013
​

LynnK LoganGS ‏@lynn_logan_usa

@graciesfriend thank you so much! It already has proved to be as such.
6:21 p.m. - Feb 26, 2013
​

BTW, if anyone wants to read the official USFS announcement from Feb 25:

http://www.usfsa.org/Story.asp?id=49023&type=media​

[p.s. CoyoteChris, are you by any chance confusing Kriengkrairut with Megan Wing of Canada, who now coaches ice dance with her husband? As partners on the ice, Wing/Lowe had a long and successful competitive career, and I think that they have very young twins.
Within just the last few days, Pj Kwong posted a new interview (text and video versions) with W/L. http://www.cbc.ca/sports/figureskat...ians-wing-lowe-the-wizards-of-ice-dance.html]

 

[ice coverage]

Sorry, I was making a very bad joke about the Shibs....my bad..I have been talking with Lynn and they are excited and I do wish them the best....I would say in general when someone coaches me, and then another person coaches me, I see that some coaches have strengths and weaknesses and some see things in my performance that others dont....then a third coach comes along and says, Hey do you know you are doing so in so? And a lightbulb goes on....change can be good....
Love to Emily S. Where ever you are....tweet tweet.

Oh, dear ... so sorry that I totally missed the joke, Chris.

Did not realize that you know Kriengkrairut personally , so no danger that you would confuse her with anyone at all.
Glad that G-S and she are excited about their coaching change.

The ironic thing is that I had been feeling sort of disloyal to Shibutani[SUP]2[/SUP] for not saying something supportive about them earlier in this thread. I really hope that they will qualify for the Olympic team (no offense to K/G-S, who have worked long and hard too).

ETA: I know that Emily Samuelson is looking forward to grad school, but I would love for her to give ice dance commentary. Just my wishful thinking.​

 

[conga]

.

I hope that they will get a GP invitation!

They are right back where they have been a number of years at this point in the season, though. Because they had only one GP and it was the first of the season, they will be bumped out of the top 24 after Worlds and have to hope to get the host pick, SA, once again. Just for comparison, if H/D had only their first GP score to stand on, they would already be out of the top 24. It will be interesting to see if K/G-S are invited to SA right off the bat or not.