2015 Nebelhorn Trophy Pairs SP and Free Skate

StitchMonkey said:

while it is intermission...

How about Caitlin Yankowskas? That partnership just ended, so she likely is still in shape and such. I wonder if that could be an option.

Do they have any other teams that they could possibly send to worlds? Maybe some juniors that need to get to work?

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The problem(s) are that she's probably too tall for him, and that she split from her other partner not because there was a problem with him, but because there was a problem with funding. Unless Christophe is independently wealthy and able to easily cover the cost of both of them training, the funding problem is still the same if she pairs with him as it was when she was paired with Haymitch- and it was bad enough to cause her to quit then, so it's hard to imagine it wouldn't be the same now.

tulosai said:

No need to feel sorry for them! This was an EXCELLENT debut considering it was literally their first competition together.

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but mari has still to improve her solo jumps....

scores

http://www.isuresults.com/results/season1516/csger2015/CSGER2015_Pairs_FS_Scores.pdf

paircheck said:

but mari has still to improve her solo jumps....

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Her triple toe actually isn't bad in general. I wonder if they might have more success keeping that as a solo triple and then doing a double axel sequence next instead of the salchow, though I don't know how her axels are.

tulosai said:

The problem(s) are that she's probably too tall for him, and that she split from her other partner not because there was a problem with him, but because there was a problem with funding. Unless Christophe is independently wealthy and able to easily cover the cost of both of them training, the funding problem is still the same if she pairs with him as it was when she was paired with Haymitch- and it was bad enough to cause her to quit then, so it's hard to imagine it wouldn't be the same now.

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Well Christopher's team did it seems have funding to keep going, so who knows how much would go with him and how much would go with Amani. In theory if each team could bring 60% of their old team funding to a new partnership, it *might* be enough and would at least be more than before. I was thinking more of a combine resources thing.

Height is likely a bigger issue.

14 would still be too young for worlds I think right?

Didn't like the way the podium ceremony was conducted. There weren't half enough youngsters there to hold the trophies, medals, flowers, etc. They were going back and forth between the side of the rink and the podium. There were four of them, so they did it like a conveyor belt - as one got rid of their thing and went back to the side, the one at the side would go over to the podium.

And then the girl in the yellow dress (the oldest of the four) fell. And everybody on the podium looked over at her. But, I liked the way that Morgan Cipres actually asked her if she was OK. A real gentleman!

StitchMonkey said:

while it is intermission...

How about Caitlin Yankowskas? That partnership just ended, so she likely is still in shape and such. I wonder if that could be an option.

Do they have any other teams that they could possibly send to worlds? Maybe some juniors that need to get to work?

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Mmmmm. Both of those suggestions are interesting possibilities.

But, with regards Caitlin and Christophe, I can't see a team comprising of 2 foreigners going down too well with the powers that be that hold the purse strings.

CaroLiza_fan

Congratulations to V/T....

I think there is still a lot of room even in this free program. Only Level 2 at the pairspin. Level 3 at the death spiral, negative GOE for two elements. And only 68 in PCS...

They are not unbeatable,but to me they are in front and the ones who are to beat.

StitchMonkey said:

14 would still be too young for worlds I think right?

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Yep, 14 is too young for Worlds.

WOW at Elladj!!!! i have been following him for a couple years and i am so thrilled he did so well!!!! canadian nationals will be tough.... with only two spots for WC

Did Max forget some of his choreography? The announcer said he was improvising during his skate. :scratch:
There were patches in his long program where it almost seem like he was about to stop.

Dots said:

Did Max forget some of his choreography? The announcer said he was improvising during his skate. :scratch:
There were patches in his long program where it almost seem like he was about to stop.

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the second half was rather different than at collegiates

Ladies Short and Pairs FS

Ladies:

It was a sunny day at Oberstdorf when three young Ladies gave Europe a taste of North American skating skills.

On top came a young lady from Edmonton, who is not only charming on, but also off the ice. Honestly, its hard to take your eyes of Kaetlyn Osmond, those big, dark - brown eyes and elegant movements! She just puts you into another world with her skating.

The Canadian who had to sit out last season due to a leg injury, convinced with grace, beauty and skill and felt relieved after her SP.

"I am super happy just to be back, I haven't competed internationally for a really long time. And I am only two competitions down, so I am really happy to be able to skate that program right now."

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While not everything went as planned for the 19 years old, she was able to smile herself through the program with a lovely triple Lutz and double Axel, both receiving high GOE´s. Her third jump element, the triple Flip - triple Toe sadly didnt go that well, a situation that Kaetlyn could live with as she explained, later.

"It wasnt perfect, which I am totally ok with. Its the first competition, its a long season, so far I am happy with it."

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A happiness that surely millions of skating fans share, as she just sells the sport so lovely and at first, it wasn't even sure that she could return onto the ice.

"Last year I had a lot of questions in my head, if I will come back or not, so my coach, family and friends tried to get me back on the ice as fast as possible, just to get my motivation back. It was a really long year, with lots of ups and down, actually a lot of downs."

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Osmond, who is well known for selling her programs nicely, received an average of 7.5 in program components and level four modifications for all her spins and the graceful stepsequence. Not so graceful however, she tends to be off ice at times, as the Canadian confessed.

"I have a lot of trouble walking a straight line, a lot of trouble walking on carpet, or up stairs. " - "I am very, very, very clumsy

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If that means that everyone should just jump aside if he or she see´s Kaetlyn coming, is everyone´s own decision and honestly, there are surely worse things in life than having a clash with such a lovely young lady!

Talking about lovely, ever heard of Alaine Chartrand? The 19 years old from Prescott Ontario was already a big thing for me during practice, as she is one of very few skaters, who skates such a clean Lutz, that even I with my short sighted vision, am able to identify that element with ease.

Her explanation for the great outside edge, was simple and short.

"Well, the Lutz is my favorite element, so..."

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She also replied to my silly comment "do you care, about it being so visible?" with a simple

"Of course I do care"

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and everyone was laughing!

In general, the chat with the three Ladies was a wonderful experience, and its fun to meet some down to earth people backstage, not something you can take for granted these days. Many laughs and funny statements just enhance a writers days and make it so much easier to write about said athletes.

As for the rest of her program and if she would change something, she just replied with,

"I wouldn't change much, just clean up my combination a little bit."

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A combination which was planned as a triple Lutz - triple Toe and sadly only found its way on the score sheet as a triple Lutz - double Toe element, due under rotation.

Besides that minor error, her program was wonderful and clean with a high factor of entertainment and maybe even some learning potential for non skaters like me, as it was really easy to read her elements and understand the difficulty of the various jumps much better.

Also quite clean was her last season, as Alaine mentioned.

"Last year was a big year for me, medal at the Grand Prix, I was at the world Championships, ..."

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[Alaine, won the Bronze medal at Moscow and came 11th at worlds]

"My goal this year is improving my placement and I look for a medal at the Grand Prix´s, again"

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Looking for a medal as well, maybe with her triple Axel in store, is Courtney Hicks from California who came third with 57.65 points.
The young American was quite happy with her performance today, as she explained later.

"I am very happy with how I skated, as in the past I often had problems with popping the SP."

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While she had a few issues, her program to music by Peter Gabriel, was pretty solid and received level 4 modifications for spins and steps. Her decicision to not include the triple Axel, was an understandable one.

"its not consistent enough, sometimes its clean, a fall or a cheated landing, so it needs to be more stable."

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Alena Leonova came forth with 56.41 points and could had been much higher, if - yes, if she wouldn't had slipped during her Layback, so that she lost that element.

A special remark goes out to the Australian teenager Kailani Craine. The Aussie bewitched the audience at Oberstdorf with her Flamenco and an outstanding appearance. She is such a cuty to watch and already has so much to offer in regards of selling her program. Her attitude on the ice is mesmerizing, its a real joy to see how much fun this young lady has. Her FS to Romeo and Juliet will absolutely blow you away, I already saw it and I was exactly this, blown away and extremely impressed. She is absolutely going to achieve what Maria Bell did last year, performing with so much passion and joy, that you just have to love her programs and want many more of the young Aussie.

Last but not least, Mirai who came 11th did attempt the triple Axel, unfortunately not clean, like so many other elements today. I think its best to remember how gorgeous she looked like in her dress and how outstanding her spins were. More luck next time, heads up!

Pairs:

Tatiana and Maxim are back and this time really with a bang!

After their shaky SP, the pair from Moscow performed in its old strength and a very interesting FS, resulting in a remarkable gap of more than 20 points and a combined total of 202.79.

The Russian Dracula and his bride, managed to put most questionmarks aside, showing the world that they still got, what it takes to be a big champion. It was all there, hight in their twist, width in their throws, sincronocity in their jump elements and the spectacular lifts including a special final pose, with Tatiana on Trankovs back.

Maxims explanation for two so different outcomes here at Nebelhorn

"The short program was more difficult always. Only in the olympic season we were good in Short Program. So I think, its same story because our experiene is completely gone after a year and a half out of competition, so I think its just story that will repeat."

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A story that might very well repeat itself, as in 2018, they will be skating together for three consecutive years after sitting out the whole last season due Trankovs shoulder injury. (the pair came together in 2011 and reached that three year threshold in 2014)

Maxim added,

" The feeling for competition was much better today than yesterday and we learned a lot from yesterday."
Dracula, a program choreographed by Nikoli Morozov, was actually Maxims own idea as he explained.
"We prepared the program already for last season, but could not show it due my injury. The Dracula was actually my idea, because I wanted to do the opposite of Jesus Christ Superstar and we also really liked the music of Van Helsing and Bram Stokers Dracula".

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While Alexa and Chris performed a quad twist, Tatiana and Maxim didnt, which might make you think, they will also have to add one in the future. This Trankov didnt rule out, but quad throws like of Duhamel and Redford, he did.

"Before, we did compete with couples who had harder elements like Aljona and Robin or the chinese and we won. So we can still win without it. Also I can not throw my wife like that, for me its too dangerous. For the Twist maybe, as its my control, but for throws - no I am just very polite with the girls, its very hard for them and I understand its scary"

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He also added with a smile the following line, which I leave uncommented for your own imagination.

"First my wife has to born a baby for me, maybe after I can throw her."

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Second came the already mentioned Alexa Scimeca and Chris Knierim from the United States. Their program was as unique as the one of the Russians, a lot of elements which you dont see that often, very original and fitting to their program music of Elisabeth, the Golden Age.
Chris mentioned that it was their intention to let the music stand out and show what they are capable of.

" We researched music last year and wanted to pick something that shows our power and big tricks and elements, but also maturity that so many other pairs have. We didnt want to fall behind and therefore picked this soundtrack."

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The Americans only 4th after the short, lost one mark in PC´s over the Russians, averaging 7.5 - yet made a huge jump forward, with great synconicity and more than just a quad to stand out. Their spectacular performance had two triple throws, a wonderful side by side Sal and three very crafty lift elements. As for the quad topic in general, Chris disagreed with Maxim.

" We want to show quads, as the sport has to progress. We can handle a quad twist and will start practicing quad throws now"

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He also compared pairs to the men´s competition, which already has a lot of quad elements.

"The men are doing quads, so the pairs must follow"

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Third came Vanessa James and Morgan Cipres from France with 172.18 points.

"Its good to be back on the Podium, we have two brand new programs to show this season"

As program music they picked Romeo and Juliet, as they wanted to do something different than a Tango this season as Vanessa mentioned.

"We wanted to do something different this season, be more graceful, we wanted something that relates to our connection and real life"

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The Canadian youngsters Julianne and Charlie sadly had a really unlucky day and only received 92.51 for their LP. Their combined total was therefore 26 points lower than last season when they won the silver medal at the junior worlds.

Mari Vartmann and Ruben Blommaert, second after the short fell behind and came only 4th in the LP.