German Nationals Berlin Dec 14 to 15 2013 | Golden Skate

German Nationals Berlin Dec 14 to 15 2013

Alex D

Record Breaker
Joined
Sep 23, 2013
When:

14. - 15.12.2013

Location:

Erika-Hess-Eisstadion; Müllerstraße 185, 13353 Berlin-Wedding

Tickets: (Order process is in German - if you need help, let me know)

https://shop.tixoo.com/eventlist.aspx 50 Euro All Event

How to reach:

If you come from outside of Berlin, take a train that either goes to Südkreuz or Gesundbrunnen. Both train stations have an international connection. Once there just take either the S 42 or S41.
Just depart at Berlin - Wedding, its a walk of approximately 10-15 minutes.

An alternative to the train is the Subway / Underground. You can reach the ice stadium by taking the U6, departing at Reinickendorfer Straße.

Side note:


The German Figure Skating Union is looking for 1 men, 1 lady, 2 pairs and 2 Ice Dance pairs - plus a potential team for Sochi.

Entries:

Sarah Hecken (defending champion)
Nathalie Weinzierl

Peter Liebers (defending champion)
Paul Fentz

Prölß / Blommaert (defending champion) (withdrawn)
Wende / Wende
Savchenko /Szolkowy

Zhiganshina / Gazsi (defending champion)
Kolbe / Karuso

Full Line up below:

http://www.eislauf-union.de/bilder/Zeitplan_Entries_11_Dez.pdf

Schedule:

Saturday, 14.12.2013

15:00 CET

Men SP
Pairs SP

16:30 CET

Novice / Advanced SYS LP
Juniors + Adults SYS SP


17:45 CET

Ladies SP
Ice Dance SP


Sunday, 15.12.2013

12:10 CET

Men LP
Pairs LP
Juniors + Adults SYS LP

Afterwards:

Victory Ceremony for men, pairs / SYS

15:00 CET

Ice Dance LP
Ladies LP

Afterwards:

Victory Ceremony for ladies & ice dance

20:00 CET

Gala
 

Alex D

Record Breaker
Joined
Sep 23, 2013
I was wondering, is there anything you ever wanted to ask one of our skaters?
 

blue_idealist

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 25, 2006
Why aren't Vartmann/Van Cleave competing in pairs and Koch/Nuchtern competing in dance?

ETA: Never mind. I see them on the PDF.
 

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
Thank you! I really love their skating and wish them the best at German nationals!
 

paircheck

Final Flight
Joined
Feb 29, 2012
Will Anabelle Prölß be well enough to skate?

sorry... annabelle & ruben won't compete @ nationals this weekend.. annabelle is not fit enough yet... :-(

i am sad.. they were the definding champions... an the rising stars in pair Skating in Germany...


but it will be interesting to see what pair does get the 2nd spot for the olympics... wende/wende or vartmann/ van cleeve ... i think wende/wende.. clearly!

does anyone know if the german fed has to decide it now... or if the nominate only for the europeans now
 
Joined
Jan 22, 2004
I think Vartmann/Van Cleave have finally met the minimum score required by the German Olympic Committee at NRW Trophy. Still, Wende/Wende have a higher average score this season and I believe they should be going.
 

Alex D

Record Breaker
Joined
Sep 23, 2013
Thank you! I really love their skating and wish them the best at German nationals!

Unfortunately as mentioned by paircheck, Annabelle cant compete yet. She went to school and tried to practice, but its still to early for her and they had to sign off from the German Nationals :(

does anyone know if the german fed has to decide it now... or if the nominate only for the europeans now

At the end of the Gala Event our team for Budapest will be presented.

As for Sochi, I just checked the DOSB and it says that on the 18th of December and 23th of January our athletes will be nominated for Sochi.
 

Alex D

Record Breaker
Joined
Sep 23, 2013
Preview

Nelli Zhiganshina & Alexander Gazsi

If you think about Nelli and Alex, then you usually think about them with a big smile on your face. No other Ice Dance pair has the ability to entertain the different cultures all around the world like they do. For them Ice Dance is not so much about "tradition", but about evolution & fun. No wonder that several other ice dance pairs, started to copy some of their essential elements.

Looking back almost 10 years though, their whole story sounds like a fairytale. In 2004, Alex was desperately looking for a new girl on his side, but for some reason they just didnt fit. If it was the size, the attitude, their hair colour or just something else will always stay his secret, fact remains though that there was just none to find and Alex the young horse he was, thought about his retirement.

Around spring Alex got a number, a number that lead to a phone at Russia. Behind the phone was Elena Kustarova - she knew Alex and his "taste" if it came to women. Therefore she offered him four girls, number one wasnt so much after his liking, but already number two was! Problem, that girl was actually taken - so Alex needed all his strength and charme to convince her to leave her current partner and start working with him.
From this day on both trained at Moskau and in 2009 they moved over to Oberstdorf where they still practice today, together with Rostislvav Sinicyn.

Top 10 results at worlds and europeans came frequencetly, but competing at those events wasnt enough anymore. No! Now the big goal Sochi came up, but again there was a problem. Nelli was a Russian, Alex a German and this doesnt work out quite well after the IOC.

Therefore they had to make a decicion, a decision for life.

Since women are usually those that make big decisions, Nelli decided to become a German. Germany though, a country of big burocrats didnt make it easy for her. So Nelli had to pass a German Citizenship test and she had to renounce her Russian citizenship. Not an easy step for sure but a few weeks ago, Nelli posted a picture with her new passport and therefore she is now officially a German citizen and can compete for Germany at Russia / Sochi!

Their homepage:

http://www.nelli-alex.de/de/ (German Only)

Their current SD

Le Jazz Hot - performed by Glee cast

Their current FD


Carrigan & Dips - by James Horner
Mrs. ES Dancecard - by Elliot Goldenthal
I'm Happy - by the Gorillaz


Aljona Savchenko & Robin Szolkowy

Just like Nelli and Alex before, many obstacles had to be taken to become the world No. 1 pair, 4 time european & worlds champion and also a bronze medalist at Vancouver.

Robins story actually starts with the daughter of one of Germany´s best, former olympic champion Anett Pötsch - Claudia.

Szolkowy & Claudia became german national champions in 2001, but with her retirement Robin was alone again. So alone that he had to compete for 1 year and a half in syncronzied ice skating with the formation "Skating Mystery" to stay fit.

At this time Aljona was already the junior champion in pair figure skating with Stanislaw Morosow in 2000, a "relationship" that didnt last long though.

In 2002 / 03 both skaters were looking for a new partner and Ingo Steuer had the lucky guess when he told Robin to give it a try with that young Ukrainien girl, Aljona. A while later both came together at Chemnitz, made a few practice sessions and decided to give it a try. In 2004 here at Berlin, at the Erika Hess Ice Stadium both became the german national champion, a result both could repeat six times!

In the following years both skaters advanced to the top, they won their first major international competition at the Euros in 2007, followed by the win of the Grand Prix final and the world title in 2008.

While those years sound like heaven, they also had a few big obstacles prepared for both skaters and their coach Ingo Steuer.

Due national inquires before the olympic games in 2006, Robin lost every type of support by the german "Bundeswehr" and only with the help of private sponsoring and fans, their work could actually be continued. Sometimes it felt that especially their coach Ingo was more on court than at the actual ice rink.

Nevertheless the trio continued and won their first international titles, which they could successfully defend in the following year.

2010 should had been their final footpring on the ice - crowned by olympic gold. But yet again a major setback happened when Robin missed the double Axel and Aljona the triple Toe. Big favorites, but only Bronze.

That said, the story of Aljona and Robin had to be continued and after a few long talks, Robin decided to go for another 4 years with the goal of Sochi.

But yet again a big obstacle needs to be crossed, world record holder and also big favorite Maxim Trankov & Tatjana Voloszhar. Both pairs won two Grand Prix in 2013 / 14, but the big final at Fukuoka the German duo could decide for themselves - for the fourth time! A good Omen you can say, but as in 2010 - Olympic Games have their own rules and it will be a thriller on the ice for sure.

Website:

NA

Their current SP:


When Winter Comes - by André Rieu

Their current LP:

The Nutcracker - by Pyotr Tchaikovsky


I hope there are a few things in those 2 articles that you might not had known before ;) If not I must try harder next time ;)
 

Alex D

Record Breaker
Joined
Sep 23, 2013
I also have the results page for you, including the just found starting orders for the SP´s.

http://www.deu-event.de/results/dm2014/index.htm

Very intersting is at the Ladies that Sarah Hecken and Nathalie Weinzierl are both skating next to each other with Sandy Hoffman closing the competition!

If you have any questions, just shoot. I will be back tomorrow morning during the practice, now I go to bed ;) GN!
 

Alex D

Record Breaker
Joined
Sep 23, 2013
Just had a close look at the practice with Peter Liebers and he has a very sensual SP, the jumps looked solid as well. We only have 6 male skaters left though and Franz was missing from group 1.

Those that will compete though are,

15.00 Warm up

15:06:30 Matthias Hechler
15:12:20 Paul Fentz
15:18:10 Christopher Berneck
15:24:00 Martin Rappe
15:29:50 Franz Streubel
15:35:40 Peter Liebers
 

Alex D

Record Breaker
Joined
Sep 23, 2013
Just watching the pairs practice and I got to say, its the first time this season that I saw Aljona & Robin live and I got to say, the whole choreo, music and their attitude on the ice fits so well to their final season on the ice. Its quite emotional already in the practice for me.

About Maylin & Daniel but also Mari and Aaron I spoke before, but just for that that have forgotten it - they have very good skates as well, especially Mari & Aaron - I like theirs a lot!

15:55:00 Warm up
16:01:30 Maylin & Daniel
16:07:20 Aljona & Robin
16:13:10 Mari & Aaron
 

Alex D

Record Breaker
Joined
Sep 23, 2013
Practice Ladies SP

All Ladies on the ice, my favorite not only because she is like me from Saxony is Anne Zetsche. Really like her attitude and the way her program is choreographed, she also belonged to my favorites already last week at Dortmund.

Also to note is of course Nathalie Weinzierl and Sarah Hecken - both with very different programs - fighting for that one olympic spot.
Both girls have not reached the required total score yet - but due the fact that Germany has secured its spot in the team event, one of them will most likely also compete in the Ladies competition.
I really lliked how Sarahs step Sequence is choreographed, she really has a lot of fire in that element, while Nathalie has a very sexy performance to Fever.

Talking about sexy, do not write off Sandy Hoffmann yet, she has a lovely and very elegant skate - I totally enjoyed watching her on the ice. She will close the evening tonight.

Starting Line up:

Group one:

17:51:30 Jennifer Parker
17:57:20 Luisa Weber
18:03:10 Jessica Füssinger
18:09:00 Anne Zetsche
18:14:50 Anneli Kawelke

Group 2:

18:27:10 Minami Dobashi
18:33:00 Nicole Schott
18:38:50 Jennifer Urban
18:44:40 Sarah Hecken
18:50:30 Nathalie Weinzierl
18:56:20 Sandy Hoffmann
 

Alex D

Record Breaker
Joined
Sep 23, 2013
Practice Ice Dance SD:

Quite funny to watch the practice as both pairs are so different. We have Nelli & Alex with their funny program in which Alex looks like a total Nerd - wearing Glasses and some pretty nerdy clothes while Nelli is dressed in a very elegant green dress.

Tanja & Stefano however, are dressed very elegant in black and white, performing their Foxtrot to New York New York and their Finnstep to Borsalino.

Starting times are:

19:20:30 Tanja & Stefano
19:26:20 Nelli & Alex
 

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
Alex D, thank you so much for the article about Nelli & Alex! I had never heard how they got together before.
 
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