2018 JGP OStrava: Thoughts and Highlights?

Hi Folks!

Now that the competition is over, what were your favorite highlights of the event? Feel free to talk about costumes, elements, scores, etc. Everything goes!

We are also looking for those who have a bit of writing skillz! We'd love to see a paragraph of each discipline highlighting the top three along with your thoughts. The staff will be watching and someone may win a free season pass to the competition forums if you haven't already got one Get those creative and technical juices flowing and show us your journalistic abilities! One-liners are welcome, just keep out the snark level down

A big congrats to the winners below who gave great recaps on previous events and earned a free season pass!

IceBallerina - JGP Linz *
Fluture - JGP Linz *
MalAssada - JGP Kaunas
Step Sequence4 - JGP Canada
chameleon - US Classic
Marius - Lombardia
Baron Vladimir - Ondrej Nepela Trophy
skylark - Autumn Classic

* Two were selected from Linz as there were no winners from JGP Bratislava

LADIES
Alena K: Lots of potential with her and the programs are nice at the moment in juniors. I do feel the FP dress is very heavy on her where it wears her. She needs more soft dresses like her SP. Too bad about the axel jump in the SP but she was a bit better in the FP, but had that strange miss on a 3F at the ends It looks like the quads will come later, and she might as well work on it to be competitive with her teammate because I do feel it will be an issue as she matures.

Ting Cui: The nerves got the best of her in the FP. Like the softness of her programs and showing strong potential for US Ladies, but she needs to fix these technical programs and her nerves because it got the best of her with that many falls in the FP. The US Ladies needs more potential girls to be competitive and she can be one of them.

MEN
Camden P: West Side Story is really overdone, so not a fan of his FP. He could do so much more than this, but will give him a pass given he is in juniors and can play around more than being in seniors. His SP is a lot better and demonstrate his strength in PCs and skating skills. At this event, his FP was messy. Looks like nerves got the best of him and let it go a bit. His costumes are appropriate for both songs.

He is the strongest junior out there, and a rising player in US men. However, after this junior season, he needs quads to even compete with seniors. He wont make a dent without them, and wont affect the top tier in US men as well as internationally.

Joseph Phan: So much better than his last event. He is a promising star in Canada if he works on his technical more. The Godfather FP is a bit too mature for him. I would like him to use a more age appropriate song, but worth a try at least. He needs to clean up his technicals. It is there, but needs to work on a little more on the landings. Next year, he might make more of a dent.

Andrei M: For his 1st junior season, he is showing a lot of promise. His technical seems strong. He seems to have a solid base to built on as he grows and become senior. I also like this FP costume as it has enough bling to make black not boring. Strong promise for Russian men if he holds it together.

Overall, a fun event and congrats to all!

Ladies
- Kostornaia is always worth watching, even if this was kind of a rough event for her (at least, as rough an event as you can have where you still take gold -- as my father used to say, you can't spell "winning ugly" without "winning").
- Kim Ye-lim continues to be the little engine that could. If she only eked out the silver medal last time, here she came so close to eking out gold. I'm sure she's thinking about that late finish, but nevertheless, a second silver and almost certainly a Finals ticket.

Men
- Camden Pulkinen's short program was excellent, as his performance quality during the free was gripping even as the technical elements kind of got away from him.
- Kirill Iakovlev continues to be a real standout, and I expect he'll be a really tough one to beat once he gets the 3A in his arsenal.
- Joseph Phan didn't have a perfect set of skates, by any means, but after the crushing disappointment in Kaunas I was glad to see him on the podium and on an upward trajectory.
- Andreas Nordeback seems like one to watch for the future.

Ice Dance
- I recall first being intrigued by Emmy Bronsard and Aissa Bouaraguia when a clip of their FD was posted on Instagram during the summer, and they made an impression in their Championnats program (where they came second). Finishing fourth here on their first international assignment is damn impressive, and Bronsard is a star in the making (Bouaraguia at the moment kind of fades into the background; I hope he can develop more, which is especially notable since he's four years older than her).

LADIES

There's been a slightly different trend in ladies this JGP series. Yes, the Russian ladies are still as dominant as ever, but this year the top Japanese ladies have moved up to the GP, so Japan is in a rebuilding phase. We're seeing a lot of new Japanese and Korean ladies, and the Korean ladies are beginning to show they are here to stay.

Right from the start, it appeared the JGPF was going to be all Russian, as there were no Japanese superstars to break the ranks. But hold on---here's Korea's Ye Lim Kim, who seemed very, very determined right from the getgo to make the Final. Her displeasure at taking silver in her first event wasn't going to stop her. She still had to settle for silver at her second event, but it was thisclose to being gold, and her scores at both events are very high. It will likely turn out there will be a tiebreaker after the final JGP event with total score being the deciding factor.

As I see it, shoo-in ladies finalists will be 30-pointers Kostornaia, Shcherbakova and Trusova, and 28-pointer Tarakanova.
Then there will be three 26-pointers: Ye Lim Kim [388.23 (196.34+191.89)], Tarusina (186.68), and Kanysheva (191.84). The lowest 26 pointer will be the first alternate.

Of course, there's a chance that Japan's Sumiyoshi or Hong Kong's Yi Christy Leung could upset Tarusina in Slovenia, which could make the remaining 26 pointers shoo-ins too. Stay tuned for the drama.

MEN

So far Camden Pulkinen, bless his musical soul, is the only solidly confirmed JGP Finalist. Next week, Petr Gummennik, Koshiro Shimada, Artur Danielian (2nd at JW 2018) and Tomoki Hiwatashi will duke it out in Slovenia; at least one (possibly two) of these names will be added to the Finalist list (if Danielian wins gold or silver, he will go on to Armenia).

Although Egor Murashov with 9 points was originally slated to go to Armenia, I believe Andrei Mozalev, the Czech winner with 15 points, will be sent to Armenia instead and he and Danielian will both make it to the Final.

In the end, think the final will have 3 Russians (Gummenik, Mozalev, Danielian), one Japanese (Shimada) and 2 Americans (Pulkinen and Torgashev)

PAIRS

The Pairs final, of course, is already decided, and it was a strange outcome indeed at the Czech JGP. Because there were only 4 Pairs events, it wasn't possible for the Final to be an all-Russian event because even though the Russians won 11 out of 12 medals (all but one bronze) with 7 teams, only 5 Russian teams had enough combined points to be on top of the standings. The 5 Russian teams had won all the medals in the first three events, and 3 of those 5 teams were competing in the final event and slated to win all the medals there, but Russia still would wind up with just 5 finalists for the JGPF.

Strange, isn't it? There was a vacant spot for one lucky team. Who would it be?

Going in, there were two teams with 13 combined points who'd already completed their two events:
Miura/Ichihashi (JPN) with 273.07 total points - this was the current leading contender for the last Final spot
Andrew/Fletcher (CAN) with 260.45 total points

In the final event there were:
with 9 points, need to finish 6th (9+5=14) to beat Miura/Ichihashi's 13.
Lockley / Prochnow (USA)
with 7 points, need to finish 5th (7+7=14) to beat Miura/Ichihashi's 13.
Tang / Wang (CHN)
Nesterova / Darenskyi (UKR)
McIntosh / Toste (CAN)
with 5 points, need to finish 4th (5+9=14) to beat Miura/Ichihashi's 13
Feng / Nyman (USA)
Hamon / Strekalin (FRA)
Zenulkova /Fukas (SVK)

After the SP, top contenders were Feng /Nyman, in 4th place and Lockley / Prochnow in 5th. But Hamon / Strekalin and Tang / Yang weren't out of it yet. It all depended on who could score the top numbers in the FS.

After the next-to-last group had skated, Lockley / Prochnow with 9 points going in had managed to finish in 5th place and had 14 points so had passed Miura / Ichihashi for that final spot. But it all depended on what Feng / Nyman did in the final group.

Feng / Nyman were skating second, after Polyuaianova / Sopot. P/S had a rough skate, with several missteps. Feng / Nyman followed with a Seasons Best skate, winning the bronze medal and the last JGPF spot.

It couldn't have been a more unexpected or exciting end to a Pairs series event.

ICE DANCE

Right now, with two events to go, there are only two confirmed JGP Ice Dance finalists: Khudaiberdieva / Nazarov (RUS) and Lajoie / Lagha (CAN).

In the Czech JGP, Khudaiberdieva / Nazarov easily won, with the Georgian team (who are both Russian-born) taking silver and the Russian team of Davis / Smolkin (she is from Las Vegas, Nev!) the bronze medalists. A young Canadian team were fourth.

Ice dance is not as easily predictable as ladies or men, as under the new scoring system, scoring is wildly variable from one event to the next, much more so than in singles.

In Slovenia, the main contenders are Shevchenko / Eremenko (RUS) with a gold medal, and Nguyen / Kolesnik (USA) and Ivanenko / Karpov (RUS) with silver. The Americans are the only non-Russian team (the Georgian team are both Russian-born) to have a chance to make the final in the next two events; they must win at least a silver medal to have a shot at the final. Previous scoring indicates they may have a good chance at a silver, but then previous scoring is not reliable given the new scoring system.

In Armenia, Russia has gold and silver teams Ushakova / Nekrasov and Shanaeva / Naryzhnyy, and Georgia has a silver team Kazakova / Reviya. The US would have had the Greens, who won two bronze medals in their first year on the JGP, but they have been dealing with injury and haven't been able to make their debut---sadly, they have been withdrawn and have been replaced with Gunter/Wein. Also representing the US are the Browns, who made a sensational debut in Canada.

It is likely that in the end, the final will consist of mostly Russian teams, a Canadian team, and maybe one US team and one Georgian team.

chuckm said:

MEN

So far Camden Pulkinen, bless his musical soul, is the only solidly confirmed JGP Finalist. Next week, Petr Gummennik, Koshiro Shimada, Artur Danielian (2nd at JW 2018) and Tomoki Hiwatashi will duke it out in Slovenia; at least one (possibly two) of these names will be added to the Finalist list (if Danielian wins gold or silver, he will go on to Armenia).

Although Egor Murashov with 9 points was originally slated to go to Armenia, I believe Andrei Mozalev, the Czech winner with 15 points, will be sent to Armenia instead and he and Danielian will both make it to the Final.

In the end, think the final will have 3 Russians (Gummenik, Mozalev, Danielian), one Japanese (Shimada) and 2 Americans (Pulkinen and Torgashev)

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I wish I could have that much confidence in Danielian but he just got his jumps back, like 2 to 3 weeks ago, so I just want him to do his best without the pressure of medaling or making the final. And he only needs a 4th and a score of 190.33 to keep his spot in Armenia.

There is also Natacha LAGOUGE / Corentin RAHIER who has a potential to try to fight for JGP finals.

This will be a long, happy, optimistic and positive post, consider yourself warned. (I also can’t tell apart some jumps and elements to save my life and generally avoid scoring discourse as I don’t have any necessary arguments and don't know much about JGP but I was there and I enjoyed the skating as a whole! I was in Ostrava for the majority of FD, all FS pairs, the last two groups of ladies’ FS and whole men’s FS.)

I’ve never been to a skating competition and the first ice dance pair I saw was Anne-Marie Wolf and Max Liebers. I was so amazed by their talent and the beauty of the program and so overwhelmed that it made me cry.

28th September is a state holiday in the Czech Republic so there were quite a lot of spectators. And the atmosphere was so warm and kind :luv17:. Everyone was smiling. And it’s so nice to see because after reading some comments or posts online one might come to the conclusion that the fs world is not a very positive place… There were many families, there were dads with their kids alone; there was a Vietnamese family (there’s a huge Vietnamese community in the Czech Republic) rooting for Chinese pairs so much. So much has been said about the rivalry between Czechs and Slovaks but everyone was supporting Slovak pair skaters Tereza Zendulková / Simon Fukas… There were British and Canadian skaters sitting next to each other in the arena...

There are some of my impressions:

ICE DANCE
Katarina Wolfkostin / Howard Zhao (US) – out of all skaters from earlier groups, they impressed me the most. And they kind of remind me of the Shibs.

Elizaveta Khudaiberdieva / Nikita Nazarov (RUS) – They were simply great. I instantly became a fan. Maybe also because they skate to I’m only human. And it was Michal Březina‘s last year’s program that had so much significance for him and I loved it…

Diana Davis / Gleb Smolkin (RUS) – I found myself applauding for every element without even knowing it. In my notes I have only two words: flowing! flying!

Maria Kazakova / Georgy Reviya (GEORGIA) – she has a gorgeous dress. Their dance was poetry in motion, ballet on ice. Twizzles to the music. (and I love skaters with flapping hair)

I have to say that the Russian (Ukrainian/Belarussian) ice dancers and pair skaters have a unique quality in that even though their programs are not necessarily sad they make your soul ache (in the right way), there’s a depth of interpretation, dark heavy passion. I don’t know how to describe it, maybe it’s just the way we, Slavs, are and it’s fascinating to watch.

PAIRS
Gabrielle Levesque / Pierre-Alexandre Hudon (CAN) – they didn’t have the best day but you can feel that they are skating really with each other not next to each other. Their FS has a good build-up. (I also can’t help but see a bit of Patrick Chan in him, maybe it’s just the costume)

Cloe Hamon / Denys Strekalin (FRA) – They were in synch all the time and had great spins. French female skaters have a thing for trousers.

Kate Finster / Balazs Nagy (US) – They were able to create atmosphere for their program from the first seconds and had great speed.

Anastasia Poluianova / Dmitry Sopot (RUS) – They have very strong lift. It certainly helps that Dmitry resembles a classic Russian ballet dancer.

Kseniia Akhanteva / Valerii Kolesov (RUS) – She rotates soooo quickly during the twist lifts!

Continuation:

LADIES
I’m not interested in this category so much and saw only the last two groups… so I’ll just point out:

Silvia Hugec (SVK) – she is so gracious and light on the ice.
Shiika Yoshioka (JPN) – she is not the most known of all the Japanese ladies, but she is able to combine drama and lyrical parts in her program and her skating skills impressed me the most.
Viktoria Vasilieva (RUS) – has wonderful spins performed to every beat of the music at the end of her FS (and she sure likes rippons )

MEN
I would like to point out some skaters from earlier groups. The technical elements are of course not so difficult, but I found these programs and skaters interesting:

Mikalai Kazlou (BLR) – skating to New York, New York (that’s a straight way to my heart)
Michal Wozniak (POL) – Spanish program!
Kyrylo Lishenko (UKR) – ok, objectively the song would need a more mature skater but it’s My way…
Daniel Bodenstein (SUI) – a really mature performance for a 13-year-old skater.

Aleix Gabara (ESP) – great arm movements! a lyrical program (it’s so funny, I couldn’t help it but compare him with Javi, I was certainly expecting something funnier or at least more upbeat but Aleix surprised me – and not in a wrong way ).

Jonathan Yang (US) – he is a great performer. (There is a confession: I love Javier Fernandez, I adore his skating . And I was looking for someone with similar charisma there, but couldn’t find anyone among the 24 competing men; Javi’s style is really unique, however Jonathan came the closest – ofc I know these are juniors and you can’t seriously compare it with a 27-year-old...)

Matyáš Bělohradský (CZE) – he really brought the whole arena to life, he has great speed across the ice. (It was especially apparent because he was skating maybe one group earlier then expected /based on the not so well SP/) And Tomáš Verner in the K&C :luv17:

Irakli Maysuradze (GEO) – great speed, sense for drama

Radek Jakubka (CZE) – amazing musicality (along with Camden). He was flowing on the ice. The Czech commentators mentioned that he will be a new partner of Anna Dušková in pairs. (Martin Bidař will skate with a Belarussian skater and they will be representing the Czech Republic)

I have to say that I enjoyed the earlier groups a lot more than the final group. The programs were just not happening – in my subjective opinion (Aleksa Rakic, Kirill Iakovlev, Andrei Mozalev, Joseph Phan…)

Mitsuki Sumoto (JPN) – great musicality; beautiful, lyrical skating to Mi Mancherai (I’m biased but I really appreciate when skaters choose lyrics that are not in English, and when it’s Italian )

Camden Pulkinen (US) – I enjoyed the softer skating during the parts when the protagonist is longing for Maria

Joseph Phan (CAN) – great spins.

Tomáš Verner mentioned that the Czech Republic is thinking about candidature for organizing WC in Ostrava!!

Thank you @Clairecz I really appreciate the in person reports:thumbsup:

I have said in other threads, I agree that discoveries are the best part of the JGP for me. So thank you too for your descriptions of the “lower ranked” men. :thumbsup: I’m not as concerned with medalists (well, I do have one particular fave, but he wasn’t here ), for me that’s not the point, but the point is to see skaters I had not known, who have no chance perhaps at medaling, but a chance at making me smile.

Jonathan Yang did that here. I’m an American and even I never heard of him: but the commitment of the power of the performance, wowza. Completely overcame the fact that the elements were too much for him at this time.

Also enjoyed seeing Jo Phan’s “redemption skates”. I think Camden was too tight and did not have his typical smoothness;it is dawning on him what the expectations are (unrealistic I think, that’s not what junior comps are for in my book).

I hope you get the WC in Ostrava!

Clairecz said:

Continuation:



Mitsuki Sumoto (JPN) – great musicality; beautiful, lyrical skating to Mi Mancherai (I’m biased but I really appreciate when skaters choose lyrics that are not in English, and when it’s Italian )

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wich is kind of funny to me skater usually end up using bocelli or il volo, wich are something that grandmas like anyway it's not like we got some great pop music (here i might be the biased one, i like mostly rock).



changing subject and getting back on topic, here my highlights

somewhere, somehow my byological clock must be ticking, 'cause i ended up liking a lot Mozalev, Nordeback and Yakovlev, i felt almost proud when they delivered such good performances

Maysuradze's name means litterally Hercules, and he was a strong competitor, kudos to him.

as for the girls ye lim kim's the one i enjoyed the most, i just loved her lightness and beautiful style.

Dance

Khudaiberdieva/Nazarov - the biggest thing I noticed with them here was that her presentation was much better than in Bratislava. In their first JGP, she looked super nervous/worried in both programs, but here that was gone and she had good expression. That made the programs much more enjoyable for me. Their FD could have been a bit sharper though. And they seemed disappointed with the FD score. I suspect that they were looking for something around 100, in line with Ushakova/Nekrasov and Lajoie/Lagha's second score. Overall, I like this team quite a bit. I didn't really remember them from last year, and the presentation wasn't great at JGP1, so seeing them here was very nice. I like their FD quite a lot.

Kazakova/Reviya - These two did very well. They'll be fighting for one of the last couple places in the JGPF. It's very nice to see a strong team representing Georgia. I didn't particularly like their FD. It was a bit disjointed for me, and maybe a bit too much drama, but the musicality in it was very nice. Technically they looked strong.

Davis/Smolkin - they were also quite good. Nice expression in the tango, i thought. For the FD, I found her too smiley for James Bond - it worked for the last song, not the first two (IMO). For this, this is a serviceable program. We've certainly seen better Bond's, but they are juniors, so it's fine. She seemed also disappointed with the FD score, but I don't think she should be. It was good for them. I'm sure we'll be seeing them more next season on the JGP. I had watched them at an earlier comp in Russia, but they were noticeably better here I think. Good job.

Bronsard/Bouaraguia - I was very impressed by these two this week. In their first summer comp, they scored well below the other teams who've been on the JGP. In their second, their score was much higher, which was what got them a spot. I wasn't sure what to expect from them, but they definitely delivered. Their scores were great for a young team in their first season of eligibility. I liked their RD. They decided to combine the tango with another rhythm (quickstep maybe?), which was a good choice for them. There wasn't much tango in the program, but the quickstep part was a lot of fun. She's a real star - very expressive. And their Greatest Showman FD was a great fit for them as well. Bonus points for using Tightrope. Really looking forward to seeing them develop.

McIsaac/Circelli - I liked them a lot better here than when I saw them at Minto. Chicago isn't a great fit for them, I don't think. But the FD suits them really well. They need to work on lift entrances and exists for sure, and also matching the leg line.

Wolfkostin/Zhao - They impressed me most out of the lower-ranked teams. They had good flair.

Pairs

Akhanteva/Kolesov - They'll be very happy to get the win here. It sets them up to be part of the top group of Russian junior pairs and potentially go to junior worlds (that'll depend on Russian junior nationals of course, but still good for them to show they're right in there score-wise). I'm not sure either they or K/I would have outscored Mishina/Galimov in the SP if they were all at the same event, but then we know that comparing scores between events is iffy. But anyways, they were definitely better here than at their first event, so good for them. They still have work to do on the presentation side, but they have some great elements (SBS spins).

Kostiukovich/Ialin - They'll want to avoid mistakes like that fall at the JGPF. I liked their FD more this time than at their first event though.

Feng/Nyman - They looked quite strong here. Their twist especially is very nice. And good for them making the JGPF. It'll be a tough field, but I think they'll be competitive enough. Probably not with Mishina/Galiamov, or the top two here if they're clean, but with Poluianova/Sopot obviously, and also Panfilova/Rylov maybe.

Poluianova/Sopot - They were pretty messy here, which they won't get away with at the final. They have some nice qualities, but they aren't quite up there with some of the other Russian juniors for me.

McIntosh/Toste - Have to mention these two because they're so adorable. And they have some good elements to build on.

Ladies

Alena Kostornaya - She didn't seem to be at her best here (sick maybe?), but she's still a pleasure to watch. I don't think the programs are fantastic, but they work, especially the SP. I still don't 100% buy her as Juliet in the FS. She was obviously disappointed with her performance here, but I hope she doesn't let the pressure get to her. She got the gold and made the final, which is the important part. Now she has a couple of months to prep. Maybe we'll see that 3A make an appearance. The one in the practice video was lovely. And on a shallow note, I liked the changes they made to the FS dress - this version is definitely more flattering.

Yelim Kim - Honestly, I still don't really connect to her skating, but there's no denying how much stronger she looks compared to last season. Moving to train with Tom Z (and team) seems to have been great for her. She's not very expressive, but she has a very pretty light quality to her skating and the programs take advantage of that. Good for her for likely having made the final.

Viktoria Vasilieva - There's something about her that I like, but she really does need to work on the performance side. She can do it, but it's not there consistently. Very nice spins. I'm glad she made it onto the podium.

Ting Cui - I remember multiple people saying Ting should have moved up to seniors and gotten the SA host spot, but I think staying junior was the right call. She needs more competitive experience to learn to manage the pressure.

Men

Andrei Mozalev - He's one I hadn't seen before, but I liked him. I agree with Ted in that he doesn't have one weakness that stands out, but he does need a bit of polish on everything. But he's only 15, so he's in a great place. I'm looking forward to seeing more of him. The FS music cuts are... interesting though.

Camden Pulkinen - that FS was definitely not one of Camden's best. I enjoyed the program a lot more in his first event. The mistakes here did take away from the performance for me. But he's into the JGPF so he did his job.

Joseph Phan - It was great to see Jo have a much better competition than JGP3. He can still do better, but getting the medal should be a nice confidence boost. I think he needed that after making a coaching change. Performance-wise, I would say the SP hasn't been as good at either JGP as it was at his summer comps, so hopefully he brings that up a bit for Nationals.

Kirill Iakovlev - He has a lot of nice qualities to his skating. I prefer the SP, but both work for him. I do hope he's close to getting a 3A or quad though because he'll definitely need that to be competitive in seniors. He has three more seasons of junior eligibility, so he has time. Hopefully he'll be added one in by next season.

Aleksa Rakic - I've really enjoyed Aleksa during this JGP season. He feels the music nicely. I'm not so sure about Joanne McLeod as coach though.

elektra blue said:

wich is kind of funny to me skater usually end up using bocelli or il volo, wich are something that grandmas like anyway it's not like we got some great pop music (here i might be the biased one, i like mostly rock).

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Sooo... I've reached a grandma status waaay before my 30th birthday I just love Il Volo and Andrea Bocelli is my most favourite, favourite, favourite singer in the world :luv17:

but Mitsuki is acutally skating to Josh Groban and I've noticed that he's not the only one... (And I'm like: you already have a perfect Italian song, there's a perfect Italian singer why on earth do you let Josh Groban sing it - nothing against Josh, I like him too...)

Clairecz said:

Sooo... I've reached a grandma status waaay before my 30th birthday I just love Il Volo and Andrea Bocelli is my most favourite, favourite, favourite singer in the world :luv17:

but Mitsuki is acutally skating to Josh Groban and I've noticed that he's not the only one... (And I'm like: you already have a perfect Italian song, there's a perfect Italian singer why on earth do you let Josh Groban sing it - nothing against Josh, I like him too...)

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watch out, next step's Laura Pausini jockes aside, i can see the operatic pop appeal, it must sound very italian to you like a D&G commercial.