2018-19 British figure skating | Page 5 | Golden Skate

2018-19 British figure skating

DSQ

Record Breaker
Joined
Apr 14, 2018
Country
United-Kingdom
Happy new year everyone, wishing team GBR (and everyone skating in the up coming championships and competitions) the best of luck!
 

DSQ

Record Breaker
Joined
Apr 14, 2018
Country
United-Kingdom
Here is a blast from the past for everyone, here (https://youtu.be/kOtgkZANmXQ) is a link to Kerr/Kerr’s wonderful Free Dance from the year they qualified for the Grand Prix Final 2009 and came 4th. This is them performing it at the British Championships as the GPF performance seems to be lost to the mists of time...

I’d forgotten how amazing and interesting their lifts were, I hope to see more teams inspired by them in the future.

Edit: Also another lovely one of Sinead and Stéphane Lambiel dancing! (https://youtu.be/jm7OwYweTQo)
 

Weathergal

Medalist
Joined
May 25, 2014
Here is a blast from the past for everyone, here (https://youtu.be/kOtgkZANmXQ) is a link to Kerr/Kerr’s wonderful Free Dance from the year they qualified for the Grand Prix Final 2009 and came 4th. This is them performing it at the British Championships as the GPF performance seems to be lost to the mists of time...

I’d forgotten how amazing and interesting their lifts were, I hope to see more teams inspired by them in the future.

Edit: Also another lovely one of Sinead and Stéphane Lambiel dancing! (https://youtu.be/jm7OwYweTQo)

My favorite FD of theirs -- I have watched it many times yet never saw the Nationals version before. Thank you for posting!
 

DSQ

Record Breaker
Joined
Apr 14, 2018
Country
United-Kingdom
You’re welcome!

I love finding these old videos since I was only a casual watcher back then. If anyone else has favourite videos of skaters like Jenna the Kerr’s from before Sochi that are hard to find I’d love to see more!
 

DSQ

Record Breaker
Joined
Apr 14, 2018
Country
United-Kingdom
Well the European Championships of 2019 are over and I think this might be the most successful Euros for the UK in a very very long time.

Every single one of our skaters qualified for the Free Skate and everyone of them leap frogged over their competition to improve on their Short placement. (Well to be fair for Zoe and Chis that was because of a withdrawal but they’re still to be commended!)

We’ve kept the two spots that Penny and Nick earned in Ice Dance and earn a second spot in Pairs due to the small field.

What’s next? Both Graham and Natasha I think still need their minimums for Worlds but I could be wrong and Lilah and Lewis are gonna have one hell of a fight to stay in the top ten at Worlds with the talent coming from Canada and the US.

However before I get ahead of myself all I can say is how incredibly happy I am for everyone’s success this week, well done Team Great Britain 🇬🇧
 

Edwin

СделаноВХрустальном!
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 5, 2019
Yes, the Brits did great and were a joy to watch.

Is it true they are mostly self financed by parents and family and some small sponsorships?
 

DSQ

Record Breaker
Joined
Apr 14, 2018
Country
United-Kingdom
That’s the rumour but I can’t confirm.

I do know for certain that Lilah is from a very wealthy area of North London but then so is my friend from University who is from Muswell Hill and she is certainly not rich! London is one of those places where, for the most part, everyone is mixed in together.

Britain Figure Skating has had all of their funding cut after the Olympics so I’m not sure how our skaters do it!
 

pesto

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 30, 2016
Lilah and Lewis are obviously the stand-out successes here, and it is so nice that they are continuing the tradition of GB having at least one world-class dance couple.

Everyone else performed to expectations, I think. No obvious major flops, and in a sport as dicey as this, that's a very good result. I guess that their main aim coming in will have been to make the free.

I do wish we could find some solo and pairs skaters to up the ante a bit. I suspect that's a forlorn hope.
 

Edwin

СделаноВХрустальном!
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 5, 2019
Are there many rinks in the UK, as figure skating is often a by-product of ice hockey?
Without rinks no kids able to try skating.
 

DSQ

Record Breaker
Joined
Apr 14, 2018
Country
United-Kingdom
There are a fair amount of rinks if you live in the city. I think I could say confidently that every major city has an ice rink but there are a few black spots like any country has. Weirdly London is one of those black spots with only two rinks in Streatham and a half rink in Queensway for 8 million people. (Edit: I forgot about Alexandrer Palace, not a full size but close. So three rinks for 8 million. )

Ice Hockey has almost no presence here. Certainly less than Figure Skating.

The big issue is the lack of world class coaches. Without exception almost all of our recent top skaters have emigrated to the USA to coach. In fact that’s the reason why Jean Luc Baker represents the US, his parents are British skaters who emigrated to the US to coach. Even Penny Coomes and Nick Buckland are currently coaching in the US and they haven’t officially retired yet!

However I’m not sure what can really be done about the lack of coaching talent, the money is just so much better in America.

I do wish we could find some solo and pairs skaters to up the ante a bit. I suspect that's a forlorn hope.

I think Pairs might be a bit of a lost cause until Emilia Drury & Aiden Brown, who train with James and Cipres in Florida, arrive properly on the Junior scene. Zoe and Chris are great and I admire their dedication but I don’t really see them improving to much technically but artistically they still could but not enough to challenge. I guess it’s up to British Figure Skating to perhaps encourage some of the lower ranked advanced novices to switch but the field is so thin already.

As for singles both Graham and Natasha did to well to improve on their SB at Europe I do think that’s an achievement.

For Men’s Luke Digby looks promising as he trains with Lambiel in Switzerland but Graham is training the quads I just hope he has the bravery to start introducing them to his programs. He kind of has nothing to lose as Harry Mattick, who landed the first ever quad at nationals, just isn’t consistent enough.

Ladies is a bit more worrisome as there currently are no ladies with consistent triple triples. I think Danielle Harrison try’s them and so does Karly Robertson who’s seasons best isn’t that bad despite losing nationals. I just hope British Figure Skating see’s the writing on the wall and perhaps gets local competitions to encourage bonus points for attempting 3-3’s but I’m not really sure what the solution there is. Ladies is much deeper in Juniors and Seniors than men so they do have more insensitive to up the technical if the want to take Natasha’s crown.
 

Spinning

On the Ice
Joined
Dec 10, 2015
There are a fair amount of rinks if you live in the city. I think I could say confidently that every major city has an ice rink but there are a few black spots like any country has. Weirdly London is one of those black spots with only two rinks in Streatham and a half rink in Queensway for 8 million people. (Edit: I forgot about Alexandrer Palace, not a full size but close. So three rinks for 8 million. )

We don't have much in the south though. After our rink closed down, we have no rink not unless you drove to the next few town away.
 

fzztsimmons

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 14, 2018
I do think lack of good coaches is the biggest problem. I live near a massive ice rink, with two separate ice rinks inside (though that is to give the Ice Hockey team priority, because they're actually decent) but the coaches are just not up to the standard of other countries.
On a separate note, yesss Lilah and Lewis!! I love their free dance and I just think it gets better every outing! I really hope they shake up standings a little bit at Worlds!
 

DSQ

Record Breaker
Joined
Apr 14, 2018
Country
United-Kingdom
We don't have much in the south though. After our rink closed down, we have no rink not unless you drove to the next few town away.

Yeah it’s not ideal. Fun fact: In Scotland there are some Ice Rinks that are just for curling.

I really hope they shake up standings a little bit at Worlds!

I hope so too but out of the six Canadian and American teams the only team they might beat are Fournier Beaudry / Sorensen who came 9th last year for Denmark at the Euros. But who knows... stranger things have happened.
 

pesto

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 30, 2016
There are a fair amount of rinks if you live in the city. I think I could say confidently that every major city has an ice rink but there are a few black spots like any country has. Weirdly London is one of those black spots with only two rinks in Streatham and a half rink in Queensway for 8 million people. (Edit: I forgot about Alexandrer Palace, not a full size but close. So three rinks for 8 million. )

What about Lee Valley?

And doesn't the Sobell Centre in Islington still have a rink? Admittedly it's tiny, and the only time I was there was years ago, and it was pretty ropey. I've still never been to the new Streatham rink, it opened shortly after I moved away.

It's still not much for a city of London's size.

Weirdly, I know a lot of people who are very into ice hockey, so I have a warped impression of its popularity. My partner is Scottish, and blames curlers for the demise of his old rink (it's complicated...), so hates that sport with a passion.

I think our skaters did very well by their standards, I just wish we had some better skaters, and that we didn't bleed our promising talents to other nations with better facilities. I don't watch skating primarily for national interest, but I do like to have British skaters to root for alongside those who are my favourites for other reasons. I don't have any notion of how we'd achieve that.
 

CaroLiza_fan

EZETTIE LATUASV IVAKMHA
Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 25, 2012
Country
Northern-Ireland
At least it's not as bad as on this side of the Irish Sea. 2 rinks in Belfast, and none on the rest of the island. Admittedly, it looks like the rink in Dundalk could be re-opening soon, but that would still only be 3 rinks. All three of these rinks are located on the east coast, and on the top half of the island at that. What about the rest of the island? Nada!

That said, I have recently been doing research into places in the north of Scotland for a post I was writing for another thread (it turned out to be a wasted effort - the OP was going to Banff in Canada, not Banff in Scotland :drama: ), and I couldn't get over how many rinks there are there! Every settlement I looked up (except for Banff itself) had at least one rink. And Inverness had loads!

And it started me wondering - with this many rinks, why aren't we seeing skaters from the north of Scotland coming through? And there are only two reasons I could come up with (which both probably boil down to the same thing):

  • Lack of coaches due to them not wanting to be that far north, away from the skating heartland (if there is such a thing!)
  • Skaters not being able to commit to travelling serious distances to get to competitions

I agree that ice hockey being a fringe sport here rather than the massive sport that it is in North America is probably the main reason that there aren't more rinks in these islands. Not enough rinks means not enough kids taking up skating. And not enough kids to coach means our top coaches move overseas. It's a vicious circle.

I found the discussion about rinks in London interesting. Although there are not many rinks in London nowadays, there obviously used to be a lot more. For the simple reason that when I was researching times that Worlds has been held in the UK for a previous post in this thread, I found that out of the 6 (or possibly 7) rinks that had hosted Worlds, four of them were in London. Three of them in Westminster alone. But, none of them still operate as ice rinks.

  • The National Skating Palace still exists and is now one of the main theatres in London, regularly hosting the Royal Variety Performance.
  • Niagara Ice Rink closed a matter of weeks after hosting Worlds, became a garage, and was demolished in the 70's.
  • The Empire Arena still exists and is now one of the main concert venues in the UK, and has hosted the final of the X Factor in recent years.
  • I think the Ice Club was located where Millbank Tower (which directly preceded the Post Office Tower as the tallest building in the UK) now is.

The 1933 European Championships were also held at the Ice Club.

In 1939, the European Championships were held at the Empress Hall, Fulham, London. It was demolished in 1958, and a tower block called the "Empress State Building" is now on the site. In a funny coincidence, the Empress State Building directly preceded Millbank Tower as the tallest building in London.

So, where did it all go wrong? It can't purely be because rising property prices meant that developers were making offers that were too good for the owners to refuse, because quite a few of the buildings still exist, but are being used in a different way.

Before I go, can I just add - I know he has been based in America for decades, but don't forget that John Nicks is an Englishman too. 6 time British Pairs Champion with his sister, Jennifer.

CaroLiza_fan
 

Edwin

СделаноВХрустальном!
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 5, 2019
What are the UK's Olympic Committee goals in winter sports?

Watching Eurosport of German TV broadcasts with skiing and ice channel events, one notices the occasional Brit in ski events and more of them in luge, skeleton, bob and such. But no cross country or biathlon?

Obviously it all comes down to money being at the hub of the vicious circle mentioned in this thread.
 

DSQ

Record Breaker
Joined
Apr 14, 2018
Country
United-Kingdom
What are the UK's Olympic Committee goals in winter sports?

Watching Eurosport of German TV broadcasts with skiing and ice channel events, one notices the occasional Brit in ski events and more of them in luge, skeleton, bob and such. But no cross country or biathlon?

Obviously it all comes down to money being at the hub of the vicious circle mentioned in this thread.

The Olympic Committee‘s goal 100% medal based in all sports. If a governing body’s looks like it has no medal chances or no way to progress to very soon have medal chances it has it’s funding cut. This is why after Pyongchang British Figure Skating, then NISA, had it’s funding cut to £0.

Obviously they have other revenue streams and Elise Christie in Speed Skating gets individual funding despite not meadling at Pyongchang because she medals everywhere else. But yeah it’s pretty much up to the skaters to find funding from other sources like charities and corporations who choose to support athletes.

I’d be more annoyed by UK Sport for it’s mercenary approach but you only have to see the UK’s medal tally at the Summer Olympics to see it works. It is frustrating though because winning isn’t everything.

At least it's not as bad as on this side of the Irish Sea. 2 rinks in Belfast, and none on the rest of the island. Admittedly, it looks like the rink in Dundalk could be re-opening soon, but that would still only be 3 rinks. All three of these rinks are located on the east coast, and on the top half of the island at that. What about the rest of the island? Nada!

I still cannot believe Dublin at least doesn’t have even one rink!

That said, I have recently been doing research into places in the north of Scotland for a post I was writing for another thread (it turned out to be a wasted effort - the OP was going to Banff in Canada, not Banff in Scotland :drama: ), and I couldn't get over how many rinks there are there! Every settlement I looked up (except for Banff itself) had at least one rink. And Inverness had loads!

And it started me wondering - with this many rinks, why aren't we seeing skaters from the north of Scotland coming through? And there are only two reasons I could come up with (which both probably boil down to the same thing):

  • Lack of coaches due to them not wanting to be that far north, away from the skating heartland (if there is such a thing!)
  • Skaters not being able to commit to travelling serious distances to get to competitions

I think people in general don’t want to live that far north. I went to University in Aberdeen and It’s isolation can be frustrating but it’s a lovely city and has an international airport. I hope more skaters from up there make the National Team!

I found the discussion about rinks in London interesting. Although there are not many rinks in London nowadays, there obviously used to be a lot more. For the simple reason that when I was researching times that Worlds has been held in the UK for a previous post in this thread, I found that out of the 6 (or possibly 7) rinks that had hosted Worlds, four of them were in London. Three of them in Westminster alone. But, none of them still operate as ice rinks.

This is the real shame because whenever I’m at Queensway it is so packed with leisure skaters and former Ice Dancers who are now in their 70s that there’s barely room to breath. Very few of the skaters there (including myself) are aiming to be competitive.

Now that Phill Harris is coaching I hope he focuses on our next generation and it is heartening to see how Jenna McCorkell supports British Figure Skating with her Chique Sport range.
 
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