On Site Reports: Share experiences CoC 2015

Interspectator · Oct 21, 2015

If you are watching the practices or any of the competition in person, please feel free to share your stories with us on this thread.
Who is doing well?
Who is standing out?
What are you eating at the venue?
:popcorn:

Tanka · Nov 5, 2015

Well, it's snowing in Beijing today. And three days ago we were happy to wear T-shirts only.
I'll try to find practice tickets today. I'm having problems with finding tickets, entrances and other easy things in China. ))

dorispulaski · Nov 5, 2015

Good luck! And have a lovely time!

Tanka · Nov 5, 2015

There are NO tickets to practice session. Alas. We tried our best but had to give up.
Anna Cappellini is even more beautiful in reality than on TV. Luka is the same. )))

Interspectator · Nov 5, 2015

Tanka said:
There are NO tickets to practice session. Alas. We tried our best but had to give up.
Anna Cappellini is even more beautiful in reality than on TV. Luka is the same. )))

Oh, too bad! But tell us of your experience in Beijing and the competition itself when you have time!

Alex D · Nov 10, 2015

Cup of China Column (just a short one)

Audi Cup of China

1.0 Introduction
1.1 History lesson
2.0 Former and Future Champions
2.1 Mao Asada (won, yet unhappy)
2.2 Rika and her Riverdance (falling in love)
2.3 Anna & Elena (Bcem Privet)
3.0 I want to dance with somebody
3.1 Anna & Luca (proud to success)
3.2 Madison & Evan (in search of the lost steps)
3.3 Elena & Ruslan (Frida & Freddy)
4.0 Final say

1.0 Introduction

Before I want to start with the usual introduction of the event, I want to send a million hugs to Kaitlin Hawayek and Jean – Luc Baker, as they sadly had to pull out of the Ice Dance competition. The 2014 world junior champions were unfortunately unable to skate their FD, after coming 4th in the short, due her suffering from food poisoning.
I sadly do not have any further information as of right now, but I wish her and Jean – Luc all the best and a speedy recovery, same goes out to Inna of course.

1.1 History lesson

The Audi Cup of China, is the third of six GP qualification events, but not one of the founding tournaments, when the GP series was created in 1995. Instead of the Chinese, the German figure skating fans, had their own GP, which was held annually at Gelsenkirchen in the west of Germany from 1995 – 2002. While the event in Germany kept going for two more years, it had lost it´s GP status in 2003 and China became the new, sixth member of the series.
In 2015, the event was held at the Capital Gymnasium Indoor Arena, where in 2008 the Volleyball competitions of the Summer Olympics at Beijing were held. Due to not being an ice hall, the venue was a little bit on the "exotic" side, which caused quite a few issues for people who wanted to throw stuff on the ice, as the spectator seats were quite far away and above the ice. Therefore, a lot of cameramen and gift collecting kids, were hit by teddy bears, flowers and all kinds of stuff, during the whole event.
Nonetheless, did several gifts find their way onto the ice, just like the skaters and 12 medals found a new home. In the following two sections, I want to give you a quick overview about the ladies and dance competitions. Sadly, I was unable to watch men and pairs due work and birthday celebration, so these will unfortunately not be featured today.

2.0 Former & Future champions

The Audi Cup of China, featured one of the greatest, Olympic silver medalist of 2010, Mao Asada, who celebrated her comeback and did land her trademark the triple Axel, perfectly clean in the free, granting her the 15th gold medal at the GP series.

2.1 Mao Asada (won, yet unhappy)

In 2014 at Sochi, she was one of the big favorites and everyone, was talking about the revenge for the "loss" at Vancouver. In the end, neither Mao or Yuna Kim won gold, but Adelina Sotnikova and a huge uproar went through the social media and I still remember how I was attacked for writing a positive review about Adelina, so much, that I kind of no longer understood if we were still talking about sport or politics.

That said, it wasn´t any skaters fault, that "fans" reacted so unfair and rude, to skaters, officials and journalists, therefore, it was wonderful to see, that Mao came back strong, winning worlds right after. However, just like with many other skaters, the following season did not happen with the Japanese, as she was just cruising a little bit in what we call "the other life".
Asada, who is a big fan of Ayumi Hamasaki (like me), was trying to find the origins of figure skating in Slovakia, Austria and Hungary and did work as a DJane, which now makes us colleagues, "high five young lady". :thumbsup:

As far I know, she is now officially the first figure skater, who is doing something, in which I am not completely terrible in and maybe we can spin a few records together some day, what do you think Mao?

But don´t you worry folks, if Mao and I will ever throw a party together, then you will know it first!

Anyways, let´s get back to Asada at China, shall we? So yes, she skated to gold as mentioned, has a new huge collection of toys and did her trademark element, the triple Axel twice.

It all started with her SP to "Bei Mir Bistu Shein”, in which she landed said Axel and a triple Lutz, but also a triple – triple combination, in which however the loop after the flip, was slightly under-rotated. In total, she managed to score 71.73, while showing two level four spins and as always a great maturity and good interpretation.

The three time world champion, seemed to be quite pleased with her first GP skate after over a year.

It is my first GP since I came back. I want to be higher and I have trained hard for that, I am trying to do more difficult elements and I think today's performance will be a good motivation for tomorrow.

In her Madam Butterfly long program, also choreographed by Lori Nichol, we saw a skater who performed four clean triple jumps, including the opening Axel, but struggled quite a lot in delivering clean rotations, which lead to a big loss in points and therefore only to the third best Free Skate.

I am not satisfied with my free skating today as I didn’t do all elements. I have some problems to solve. I won thanks to my short program but it doesn’t satisfy me to have won this way.

In total, Mao still won and her fans will still love her, but there was a young lady who kind of stole her the show, by not only winning the free, but a million hearts at the same time.

2.2 Rika and her Riverdance (falling in love)

My absolute favorite was her, Rika Hongo, a skater I honestly never ever heard of before. I said it already, Asian skating is not something I know very well and I honestly have a lot of catching up to do there.
Therefore, it´s always great to see that there is still so much talent to discover and what Rika did, wow! While I might run into danger to get a similar reaction as back at Sochi, I still think she was the best skater in the Free and not less good in the short.
What this young lady puts into her Riverdance, was fantastic and her interpretation and dance skills, absolutely lovely. For someone who is working with the music pretty much every day, I have my moments in this sport, when I would love to give a skater a huge hug, just because they really made my day in using what musicians create. So what made her stand out from all the others you might ask?

Well, at first, she was completely enjoying herself on the ice, a good example is the tiny stationary dance move, that she does several times in her routine. She does mimic the actual Irish step dance moves, really good and I could very well imagine her being featured at one of the Riverdance performances around the world. I saw these several times already and I felt, she did that show justice!

Hongo, who won the bronze medal last year at four continents, tends to have a very stable entry in her jump elements, she creates the momentum in sync with the phrases of the music, lovely visible at her double Axel – triple Toe – double Toe combination, in which every jump goes in line with the more and more uplifting patterns of the music, finishing with the Tano in style. But also the entry into the step sequence, it´s so amazingly done, this is what you want to see and I have a little tear in my eye right now, as I once again watch the video of her! Towards the end, the same picture, the music goes more forward and she just nails a double Axel at the end.

You cannot interpret music any better than this and for me, her FS just stands out from the masses, it is one of the best I have ever seen in my life. I honestly hope that she will be respected and supported in Japan, even with Mao around, as this was a legendary skate.

I felt very happy at the end of my program, because I gave my best performance. I didn’t pay so much attention to my ranking.

But credit also goes to Kenji Miyamoto, who choreographed the whole skate to the "reel around the sun" music, by Bill Whelan.
To me, and I saw a lot of skates this year, she has my absolute favorite FS of all disciplines, there is no doubt about this girl, having a huge future in this sport. She uses the music perfectly, has a great technique, understood´s the phrasing of music, has a natural feeling and look ... I could just go on and on about her, a brilliant figure skater who scored a new PB of 129.97 and 195.76 in combined total.

Thank you so much for that skate young lady!!!

2.3 Anna & Elena (Bcem Privet)

I want to write about both skaters together, as they are completely different to each other, yet equally gorgeous to look at when they skate and the result could have easily been Anna in three and Elena on four.

This, however, was not the case, so that Elena won her first Cup of China medal (bronze), while Anna who won the event in 2013, only came 4th. Latter, is a very powerful skater from Moscow, who is going all in whenever she does a jump. As we know from physics, any force you create, needs to be delivered or better put, set free. So if you put a lot into your jumps and don´t land them, then the fall will be extremely hard on your body. This might explain, why some of the girls, do so tiny and little hops, kind of hoping to get away with it, somehow.

Anna, however, surely knows that it could hurt, yet she has never given up or was holding back. A very good example for this was her SP to music by Vanessa Mae, where she started with a triple – triple combination, being almost hands down on her Lutz, yet not giving in and still adding the toe, which sadly made her fall. In the end, her program with two level four spins, received 61.47 points.

I had to fight a bit but in general I felt good, no jet lack or anything, training went ok before competition and I hope the free will be good.

That the free would be better, Elena hoped as well, as her SP was not as good as last year, when she could land any of her elements, at three o clock in the morning with ease. Elena, skating to Je t´aime by Lara Fabian, lost about three points to Anna, yet offered wonderful expression and charming moments, at a program that offered a more mature skater, than in the past years. The Russian understood how to sell and present the program and looked so gorgeous in her dress, like a super model!

My coach said, I was a bit too sloppy and I was told to warm up better and put more aggression into my performance on Saturday.

Said coach is the two time Olympic champion in pairs skating Artur Dimitriev, who jumped in for the hospitalized Inna as Elena explained.

My coach Inna Goncharenko was hospitalized shortly before our departure to Beijing, so that at first I was a bit lost, not knowing what to do and I felt like a kitten, guided only by my feelings.

A lot of feelings and emotions, Elena also has while skating her free program, to the OST of Titanic in which she received 125.77, skating the second best FS of all ladies.

I like my free program a lot! During my skate I had goosebumps, something I never experienced before. Everyone probably watched the movie and the idea to portrait the story on the ice, came by my coach Inna.
At first, we show the passengers having fun and all is great and towards the end, the drama comes.

Painful it surely was, as Jack drowned and Rose was left all alone on the big ocean! I saw that movie so many times and whenever a skater picks up the music of the movie, then I get a little bit emotional myself so Elena and I cried together I guess. :sad4:

We decided to not only take the instrumental parts but also the vocals and at the end I feel ready to burst into tears myself, as it is so painful.

The long program, choreographed by Nikolai Morosov, featured a very ballet like skater with a natural given expression and six triple jumps, including a triple Lutz – triple toe combination right at the start. In general, Elena has grown up a lot, not just physically, but also mentally. She is a more mature skater now, something she was looking to find by working with Nikolai.

At first I did not very good, as for me the dance moves were something completely new. I think that I became a more mature and feminine skater, something that was my plan.

Maturity is not, however, exclusive to Elena, also Anna has a lot to offer there and she is a very attractive young lady too and I just love how confident she can look towards the judges, always trying to keep the eye contact, being present on the ice.
Present, were also her jump elements right at the start of her free program, where she opened up with a tremendous triple Lutz – triple toe combination, followed by a triple loop – single loop – triple Salchow. She seemed to be fully in control of her program, a program that granted her 122.69 in total.

Unfortunately, was the young Russian unable to continue like that and had a few really nasty falls, like on the Lutz. Remember what I said at the beginning, as more power you have, as more power will hit you back, when you fall on the ice. Therefore, it is remarkable that she just kept going and going, trying to finish her Sheherezade program, a program which I really liked. Pogorilaya, had great ice coverage, tried to put her elements and motions on beat and looked really seductive, like the beautiful Persian once.

In the end, the 17 years old, unluckily came 4th in total, a placement that does unfortunately not show how good her skating abilities really are.

3.0 I want to Dance with somebody

China and Ice Dance, is a little bit like popcorn and ketchup, not something you really know or tasted before.
Yet it does exist and the Chinese dancers, didn´t do too bad I would say, coming 5th and 6th. The winners, however, came from Italy and without a doubt, they were the best in Beijing.

3.1 Anna & Luca (proud to success)

Over the past few years, there has been a huge discussion about the Italians. To me, understandable, yet often misplaced and at times unfair. Sure, their style might not be what everyone likes, but if they dance, they do it clean and with perfection and always with very charming and emotional programs. Also off ice, a dance couple that you like to see, always ready to have a chat with and very kind to their fans. They really love what they are doing and this is so important in our sport.

But they are also great fighters, especially here in China, where they had a little accident during the warm up for their short, as Anna mentioned.

It was an unexpected, quite bad fall in the warm up, we both hit our heads. We feel it really affected our performance, which was clean, but way below what we could have put out there. We relied on the training and were able to get through it.

In said program, they skated the best SD, gaining a total of 66.39, by showing level four Twizzles right in front of the judges, aligned and confident, with high quality in their movements.

As for the Free to "La dolce Vita", I so love these straight line lifts, going backwards – it is so hard to keep the balance there and yet, it looks so lovely and easy how Luca does it. You can see a similar lift in the Free of Weaver / Poje if you like such "acrobatic" lifts.
But it´s not just about the lifts, they do skate very clean and arguable maybe a tad more knee work at times, but this is really something for coaches and specialists, they know these things and can work them out. In the end, the Italians won their very first GP medal and it´s a golden one!

It is a very sweet win, a bit anachronistic, because we won Worlds two years ago and we never won a Grand Prix before. It is nice, especially since we were able to skate well. Definitely today we skated the best we could.

Wonderful stuff we have this year at Ice Dance and Worlds are going to be super amazing!

3.2 Madison & Evan (in search of the lost steps)

A reason why worlds will be amazing, are also Madison and Evan, who seem to not get too much support here at Goldenskate, which for me is a little bit sad, as they are amazing ice dancers, maybe some of the best, we do have right now. Just check out what Madison does, her movements, how she goes down into her knees, a lot of work off ice went into the program and the body there.
But it´s not just her, it´s also Evan. His job is to lead on the "floor" and exactly this he does on the ice, it looks fantastic, the way he presents her to the judges and the audience and at no point in their short, did you have the feeling that what they did was hard to do!
That they did not win the SD, was a surprise for me, yet it was a costly error on Madison's side, but also a strong Italian skate, which lead to this.

I had a little bit of a mishap on my Twizzles, which was a really costly error, especially in the short dance. But this is a great program for us and I feel it has grown a lot over the past couple of weeks.

I mentioned it before, their SD is so fluent and just smooth to watch, no gap or anything between both dances (Foxtrot - Waltz), it´s fantastic and keeps you in the program instead of throwing you out after the first part. If you want to know more about their SD, I kindly invite you to read my Skate America Column, where I analyzed the whole program in depth. As for their FD, they improved their PB to 103.80 and showed a very smooth program, lovely lifts and great expression, yet, they lost out on both step sequences, which only received a level two, making it impossible to compete with the Italians (by losing three points in technical base value).

We were very happy with how we skated today. Our free dance kept building and growing and this is just another step that we hoped to take continuing forward in the season. We got a little lower technical score so we definitely have to take a look at that when we get home.

3.3 Elena & Ruslan (Frida & Freddy)

Third with 159.00 points, came the Russians Ilinykh / Zhiganshin who made a few mistakes on both days, but had nonetheless very creative and differential programs to the other couples. Personally, I enjoyed their Queen part at the short and also what they did to Frida in the Free, showing all the various aspects of the movie. A champion at times, has to go his own way, you should be unique and special and to just copy, these two do not like and I think this should be respected, but also seen with gratitude.

In some places we messed up and we got a deduction because the flower fell out of my hair. But overall it was a good start for us. It is better to make some mistakes in the first competition and to know what to expect.

The Slovaks Frederica and Lukas came 4th.

4.0 Final say

Sadly. I was unable to watch men and pairs and I do not feel too well with watching stuff on YT with commentary, as it can influence and cloud your judgment and I do not want to just repeat what a commentator said, so ya – I won´t catch up there. That said, I saw parts of the exhibition and I was so amazed by Elena, who skated to "I will always love you", very emotional also to me that song.... and yes, the funny guy Misha Ge – that was an ace exhibition man! :agree:

Thanks to all the skaters and lot´s of luck for future competitions!

Sam-Skwantch · Nov 10, 2015

Wow Alex!! Thank you so much for that report :bow:

I've spent a little time on the DJ circuit myself so if ya need a third DJ at the Mao party...let me know

:dance2:

Alex D · Nov 10, 2015

Sam-Skwantch said:
Wow Alex!! Thank you so much for that report

I've spent a little time on the DJ circuit myself so if ya need a third DJ at the Mao party...let me know :dance2:

Haha, ya! Let´s make a big party

thanks for reading.

Sam-Skwantch · Nov 10, 2015

It's an epic post. Did you interview the skaters yourself then?

On Site Reports: Share experiences CoC 2015

Interspectator

Tanka

dorispulaski

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Tanka

Interspectator

Alex D

Sam-Skwantch

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“I solemnly swear I’m up to no good”

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