On Site Reports: Share experiences CoR 2015

plushyfan said:

I have missed Kozuka, too.

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He has been busy finding himself. http://ohlovesosweet.tumblr.com/post/132645548086/in-your-bio-on-the-skating-federations-website

Interspectator said:

He has been busy finding himself. http://ohlovesosweet.tumblr.com/post/132645548086/in-your-bio-on-the-skating-federations-website

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aw he's adorbs:luv17:
HA I just realized he skates to S/K FD Bocelli music! cant wait to see his interpretation.

Sugarpova said:

aw he's adorbs:luv17:
HA I just realized he skates to S/K FD Bocelli music! cant wait to see his interpretation.

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Actually S/K ist using Kozuka's LP music because Kozuka used it first (it was his LP music last season, too - his Japan Nationals LP in 2015 was

Eclair said:

Actually S/K ist using Kozuka's LP music because Kozuka used it first (it was his LP music last season, too - his Japan Nationals LP in 2015 was

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lol didnt mean to take Taka's 'firstness' from him:yay:
I just havent rewatched him for so long & forgot

Guys, short dance was just amazing. I'm so happy I was just in time to see last the teams.
I think the final placement is deserved, the only thing I think the lead should be smaller. Anna and Luca were just fantastic, and weaver/poje were better than they ever been, IMO.

Snow63 said:

Guys, short dance was just amazing. I'm so happy I was just in time to see last the teams.
I think the final placement is deserved, the only thing I think the lead should be smaller. Anna and Luca were just fantastic, and weaver/poje were better than they ever been, IMO.

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Thank you for the report! I also love the little mini-reports you give in the specific threads

I saw Short Dance and Men Short on the Stadium today.

This is my first experience to see competition live (I preferred to watch by TV earlier), and it was really interesting and very curious. it was gorgeous to see all skaters , and be a part of this event. My main focus was Short Dance, and I was really upset with results, but so many great skaters did their job very well. So:

S/K- smooth skating. It was not like a champion skating yet, IMO, but definitely it is their dance and suit them very well. Speed of skating in live-mode, looks not so high than to see them on TV, twizzles were very accurate. I noticed that they both were very nervous. They look good together. It's really good dance team with champion's ambitions.

K/B – nice skating, but nothing special for highlight.

K/M- I liked it. Dance was well constructed. Their twizzles and first lift are very good. I was really surprised by one thing: They are non-top team in Ice dance but they clear represent their waltz, and do it originally. For me it's one of the best example to represent walts with non traditional ways.

I/Z- my pain… This is my team, my champions and I was really upset and disappointed with that. I have no additional words. But I support them, and have deep sympathy to Lena and Ruslan. I believe in them, and hope Frida will be better tomorrow, and next starts will be with huge improvements. In generally, they looked better than in Beijing, and I feel that it's not pick point. They definitely will grow.

M/K - Dance was really good, so easy, and charming. I liked their lifts a lot. I think they should be on more higher position. I don't think that scores were fair for them.

G/F- Their dance is very atmospheric. I'm not italian, and I trully believe that real italians should represent Italian style, music and culture like that. It's like Sara Hurtado and Adria Dias were born for making their pasodoble last season.

K/L and W/P were in another technical and artistic level. I just watched their skating, and have no thoughts in my head. When I saw Anna and Luca I felt that it would be next world champion ( I mean this WC goal in Boston). They are really strong. So solid, so perfect.


Men Short was nice to watch. I didn't focused on each programm in details. Some programms I like more than other (Adam Rippon, Javier Fernandes, Sergey Voronov, Adiyan Pitkeev). I adore authentic dance of Javier: his choreo, his hand moves impressed me much. I remember Lambiel's Flamenco, and I was a bit afraid in the start of the season: same choreographer, same theme, same choreo-moves? No! It's not the same. It's different and absolutely another.

I will go to Free Dance and Men Free tomorrow. I also plan to go to Pair Free (not sure about Ladies).

Okay,it’s time for small report from me. Exclusively for GoldenSkate.

First of all, I’m SO tired you have no idea. I went to Luzhniki straight from airport, with my bags lol But it was SO worth it, because I’ve seen Cappellini/Lanotte and Weaver/Poje live! And how great they were! I’ll repeat myself, I’m not a fan of Canadians, but they looked and skated awesome! Really. Confident, powerful, big dance. There was one thing, though, I’m sure Kaitlyn performed at least one three turn in the second set of twizzles, it was very visible from my seat, which means the level for twizzles should have been reduced by 1 level. I’m too tired to look at it closely, maybe later. Other than that, it was awesome.

Anna and Luca were absolutely amazingly great. And what a costumes they had! Her dress was perfect, and his costume is wow. I want it lol To be honest, Anna doesn’t have greatest skating skills on the field, her curves are short and not very deep, but the dance is too good. The polka was favorite part of the whole day for me, absolutely 100% highlight.

I decided that best polka this season for my taste is Cappellini/Lanotte’s, best foxtrot is Chock/Bates’s and best march is Bobrova/Soloviev’s You’re free to disagree.

Men were great too. The most surprising part for me was Ross Miner’s skate! It was AMAZING. Best of the night for me, presentation-wise. Technically Adian was the best, although his spins looked awkward as hell. I also liked Fernandez, Rippon and Voronov, but there was something lacked in each of their performance. I haven’t much to say about men, I don’t follow the discipline too closely, so… I’ll just say I enjoyed most of the skaters’ performances more than I expected.

Pairs is a whole different story. It was so great! Zabiako/Enbert were solid, really musical step sequence, but kinda slow. Marchei/Hotarek looked great too, their music was so loud in the arena, almost deafening lol I also remembered moment when Marinaro wobbled on the lift, it looked scary. But they were fun to watch otherwise. Kavaguti/Smirnov were fast and solid, but honestly I wasn’t very caught in their program, it’s kinda flat, in my opinion. But the public cheered like crazy for them, someone even tried to chant ‘Happy birthday’ to Yuko! And Peng/Zhang were great, also it was kinda weird to see them live. The age difference is so… I don’t know, distracting? But the best performance of the night goes to Stolbova/Klimov, easily. Cappellini/Lanotte can have ‘best polka’ of the day award from me, but ‘best performance’ easily goes to Stolbova and Klimov. Everything except maybe twist (it looked very weird, like she tried to grab him during the catch, and then she changed her mind but her arms were already there) was picture perfect. Their throw was biggest and fastest from all teams here, spin, steps, everything. And they skate big, amazing skating skills, soft and powerful at the same time. When they just went on the ice Ksenia had such determined facial expression that I was sure they’ll nail it! And they did.

And finally ladies. It was the most interesting discipline of the night. So many clean and beautiful skates. Adelina was bright and fun, but honestly I wasn’t too impressed by her, maybe because I know she can skate this program better (Mordovian Ornament, for example). All I can say, next to the girls she skated against tonight her components are 100% deserved. Chartrand was good too, I don’t like her style that much though. I don’t know if it was visible on TV, but she skated very fast. And that speed comes with a price, a lot of her movements and steps were curt, sometimes it seems like she’s running on ice, not gliding. Even Yoshi seemed more smooth in her skating. But overall she did good, clearly deserved second place today. If she will improve her SS and consistency, she’ll go far. Medvedeva was very elegant and smooth, shame about that fall. And she seemed extremely nervous before her skate, I actually though she was shaking. I also liked Edmunds and Hongo, but Hongo looks weaker than other skaters from last group. She skates smaller than other girls, I would also say her ice coverage is kinda limited too. But her energy was fantastic. And Elena Radionova… well, that was very cheesy program, very. But somehow, when you’re in the big arena, after very LONG day, tired and exhausted, it works! I found this skate extremely emotional, the nerve definitely was there. And dear God, how tall is she? I always though she’s on the small side, but today I’ve seen she’s not. She’s very tall, but graceful at the same time, on and off the ice. The first place is completely deserved, and if Gracie scored 71+ points for her SP, I don’t see how this score is less fair, to be honest. I loved all top 6, and I think free skate will be AMAZING. I’m just happy I’ll witness it live.

Well, that’s all. I hope it was interesting to read at least to someone. Now long, hot shower for me and short sleep, I’m going to museums’ tour next morning with my friends tomorrow before the event. Sorry for all the mistakes, please consider them a part of my charm lol

Thank you so much Snow, it was definitely an interesting read! It feels like I was there myself, reading your report. Love it!

Thank you for the report, Snow63! I hope you don't my asking, where did you fly in from?

Have fun at the museum tomorrow! :cool2: I really hope to see Moscow myself someday...:sad4:

great reports Snow & gigio!

Many thanks for the live reports!!!

Thanl you Snow63 and gigio.

We were quite late - got up late, then went to the restaurant (for there is no good food usually at Luzhniki), then parked...caught only the last three pairs. Out of these three W/P looked absolutely fantastic! He seems like a fun guy as well - had his practice with a big bottle with some brown liquid inside. Right after the skating he grabbed that bottle again. C/P were not that impressive and I could not relate to them at all. At one point looked like she stumbled but they got a big score anyway. S/K were very romantic and harmonic. He does not dominate any longer. They have good chances to further progress, I hope, to become competitive at least with C/P.

The first group of men was about Adam Rippon. His presence on ice was very big. I am not sure if he made a quad lutz - looked like a triple to me. And his score is huge. But anyway he was the best. Nam skated slowly and cautiously. The music was much bigger than he.

One thing about the crowd - so far it is very supportive to every skater.

It was very emotional day for me. As yesterday, I was on first half on competition (Free Dance and Men's Free) I planned to watch Pair Free live too, but decided to go out and don't see Quads by Yuko and Sasha. I didn't have enough nerves for that. I was emotionally empty.

Free Dance was awesome. Many dance teams presented their dance very clear with deep expression and passion. I wanted to see Monko/Khalavin very much (their skating in Skate Canada looked promised for me), but sadly they are out from competition. I hope Ksenia will be in conditions for RN. Main highlight of Dance hour for me was IZ. Not just because it's my favorite team. I just saw it by my eyes! And it was WOW! It was magnificent, and cultural skating. Maybe not for Ice Dance format: it looks like Latin Dance in some chamber theatre with intimate and personal ambience ( like "Fuego" by Carmen Motta, or something like that). That's why not all people may understand their program and require more explanation. It's hard for them, and give more concerns. But they have this challenge, and I have deep respect for them. Brilliant dance with rich aestethic level. I closed my eyes on combo-lift and twizzles, and when I heard audience's reaction I knew it was ok. No more mistakes like yesterday. It is first time when I was crying after any performance at all.

Viktoria and Nikita make me nervous, because I saw their warm-up and some elements were with mistakes and were messy. Thanks to them it was on warm-up only. Main skating visually was solid and masterpiece. I didn't like Bochelli as a music for their FD. Bochelli it's a polished music as a background for skating, it's best use for gala I think. Skaters should have brilliant skating for Bochelli. They may be will have it soon. But meanwhile, Main impression was – t's too sugary and refined. If Viktoria could wear another dress with lower level of brightness of color could be better… I don't know.

Pair from Belarus didn't express me. Their skating reflected me to Norma by Sinitsina/Zhiganshin and Spartacus by Domnina/Shabalin.This pair was very slow for me. Visually a lot of pairs and men were slower than on TV. I don't know why, but sometimes real expression was another than I thought.

Kim/Minov have gorgeous program this year. It was so funny, they felt music and was in music, and they skated it with big pleasure. I just didn't like some lift ( in the second half of program), when she has some moves with her legs. Maybe it's good for TV, but it's absolutely not for stadium's view.

I liked Shindler's List program but it's not easy to describe this program. It's hard to beyond Lipnitskaya's olympic program, or I/K program in 2010. I always have some references with those programs and start to compare. I prefer don't do that and will say, that it was big OK, but not on the same level as S/K, I/Z, and top 2 of course.

To be honest, Anna and Luca was better for me today than Kaitlyn and Andrew. And I thought Italian team will be No.1. I want to rewatch Fellini's films after them)) Canadian team has great perfomance, but It's too similar with other dances,and has no own face, IMO. Congratulations to both team or qualification to GPF!

Men short.
I disagree with some results in men. Visually Voronov looked much better than Rippon. Many skaters has mistakes in their jumps and some impression was disappear after that. Righini have great music choice. Some elements seat on music parts perfectly. But was upset with his jumps and still wait fully clear skating from him. Kozuka- again and again: I can not see Bochellli's programs with mistakes! It should be another skating for Bochelli. No WOW unfortunately, but I had my wow earlier.

Not about skating:
My seats was in D sector yesterday and B for today. I noticed that it's the best choice for next visit. I had very good view ( I worried about that earlier), it was ok for my budget and I had more observation.My today's sector (B5) was upper than entrance to skaters but on left direction, It was very curious to see, how they looks off ice, how they prepare, talk with coaches in the start and hug each other after finish))

Security worked fine. I can not say nothing bad about their job.
I didn't go to cafe cause I was on first half in two days, but I saw few cafe area for people. Bottle of water -100Rub., Coffee- 100Rub., Tea- 50 Rub. Sandwich if I'm not mistake- 200 Rub.

I'm not sure that Luzhniki will be a place for Cup of Russia next year, because another arena Megasport reconstructed and ready for new events.

I will go to Gala tomorrow, and describe all that I like.

It was awesome, absolutely awesome
Anna and Luca, Miner, Stolbova and Klimov, Yukon and Sasha, Elena Radionova and Zhenia Medvedeva were my favorites.
Who said Medvedeva is slow? ********, she skates as fast as Elena and Adelina. My heart was breaking for Chartrand, all her falls looked scary.
Yuko and Sasha had massive skate, shame about mistakes, same for Ksenia and Fedor, their program is hypnotizing.
Ice dance was just amazing, everyone had great skates, almost without mistakes. Elena and Ruslan were absolutely gorgeous, shame about low score they got, it's probably because they skated too early. Vika and Nikita skated good, but I don't like the music for them, too loud, it overpowers them at times. And twizzles were drunken
Anna and Luca had good skate, not as good as at China, though. I still would give them the first place. Weaver and Poje looked impressive and very mature, very big presence on the ice, but this free dance is no good. First half is kinda monotonous and slow, it gets better in second half when Einaudi's 'Run' starts, but after Vika and Nikita and Anna and Luca it doesn't look too interesting. I would give them solid second place.
I'm glad I've seen it all live, can't wait for GPF.

And I've met Bobrova there, I wished them best luck in Japan next week She said they will fight to win there lol

My report (FS only).

The venue this year was Luzniki same as the last year. Its occupancy is 8000 but as some seats were reserved and not taken, I guess, there were about 7000 spectators. Some people (including one of my colleagues) decided not to go because of the terrorist threat but they were a small minority. Security was regular – no big lines, multiple checkpoints, etc. Next year as Khodynka ice palace is reopened, they plan to move Rostelekom cup there: it has 14000 seats. May be, it will be easier to get tickets not paying 5 times the book price.

The crowd was very supportive to every skater. May be the first group of ladies had the least applause of all. The main reason for us was that we were just tired. My wife complained that her fingers swelled and she could not take off rings. Tarasova was sitting right in front of us doing her comments. Must be quite taxing: the plastic seats are quite narrow there. For her to sit all these hours and keep talking must have been the challenge. But she never showed that. I rewatched the ladies with her comments – she was “talking business” till the very end.

We saw just the last three dance pairs – I already wrote about it. Next were men. Was an OK competition with some questionable results. Adam Rippon is a beautiful skater. But getting international podiums without a quad raises a lot of questions. He is even not Jason who is young and still developing. Playing safe should not be encouraged because it is much easier to skate nicely that way. We all saw near perfect Chartrand in the short and also saw what a 3A attempt did to her. Kolyada unlike the Americans got reservations from judges. Like one judge giving him just +1 for his 3A. He did one of them right in front of me. Boy, it was perfection and it was HUGE especially vertically. Just cannot be better. But the main injustice of the night happened to Voronov. He tried his best. A year ago he had 1 quad and a doubled lutz. He had a better score than here with 2 fully rotated quads and no falls. This year so far he never skated like in Moscow. His Chinese FS was a bomb. He still got the same pcs as in Moscow. Based on the results of quadless Rippon and unimpressive Miner who fell at his only quad attempt Voronov’s case was the main “injustice” of the evening in the mind of the crowd. That was the only time when the crowd booed the judges… Javi was perfect just before the failed quad. Then he just skated till the end – all the magic was gone together with the speed. This shows again how much resources quads drain. I would not have argued about his score and 92 pcs if he finished the way he started. But now, well… he is the reigning world champion.

In pairs nothing particularly interesting happened before P/Z. Americans were not bad but after seeing the top three pairs I forgot about them. I think P/Z were underscored. Yes, she fell but most of their elements and their feeling of music were top level. But unlike men their “underscoring” did not affect the placement: the Russian pairs were better – just not that much better. K/S brought the magic with Manfred – too bad they could not nail the quads as I wanted them to win. S/K were lightning fast…during the warm-up. In the actual program they were just fast. I felt their challenge was to make the elements. There was not much in between – I had a similar feeling watching D/R last season. S/K are back in game after CoR. But that’s a case when I would agree with those who say that they were overscored. Especially taking into account their lamentable SBS.

Finally, ladies. It was clear why they placed them the last: the OGM, one of the two leading ladies last season, the Russian rising star, and Rika Hongo who was getting stronger with every competition – all at the same rink. The first group was a prelude. A tired crowd was lazy, everyone waited for the second group. Rika was welcomed by a big applause: I immediately remembered haters cooking up some theories. She started fast but kind of rough. Then she popped the salchov. I have a theory that a big moving camera were partially to blame. This camera drew my attention right from the start. Whenever the skaters were in the other half of the rink it moved inside the rink. Then as they approached they quickly raised it and moved away. Rika popped 3S in that very corner with that camera. I wonder if she will complain about that distraction. Anyway, her skating was sort of rough irrespective of the jumps. But the second part with all those Irish steps was very powerful. As people say here: this program started to grow on me… Polina was solid. I did not see URs , but judging by the score expected they were there. Chartrand was pitiful at first. But she fought back and we all supported her.

Finally the Russians. Adelina skated first. Whatever pcs they gave her are justifiable. Speed, edges, smoothness, and musicality – it’s all there. But each time she were about to jump we clenched our fists: her jumps looked so insecure. And she was visibly tired towards the end. Her fall, I guess, happened because she was exhausted. She has it all…in theory. But that’s a long way for her if she wants to get all the titles as she promised... Medvedeva was outstanding. Her LP is a masterpiece. I realized that the very first time I saw it at the trials. Then there was a B-competition skating when everybody said she was slow. She is not only fast now – she skates like a feather as if she has no weight at all. I was not crying like when watching Yulia’s SL but it was still just awesome. People talk about the wrong edge on lutz – it was not visible, of course. I re-watched it. The edge does not seem to be either outside or inside – it looks like flat which means ! Then I would not mind if she is called next time but only if Gracy who is her main competitor this season will get a call on her flip which was by no means cured… Elena is a beautiful skater whom I started to appreciate only this season. With a big SP lead and a clean LP her win is absolutely deserved. But the magic stayed with Zhenya. Elena’s jumps at times seemed fragile. And she was quite slow at the end.

All in all we had a great time. I met some unexpected friends – never thought of them as FS fans. As we came back home with my wife knowing it was going to be Sunday next day we opened a bottle of wine and watched the ladies competition once again on the big screen with the commentary of mighty Tarasova…

Thank you all so much for the live reports! It always really adds something to be able to hear from people who were there!