2018 Challenge Cup | Golden Skate

2018 Challenge Cup

Winnie_20

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 24, 2013
Lots of new information today about this event.
https://www.schaatsen.nl/challengecup/
And on their facebook page
Number of participants per country (from facebook, I believe this is all categories, so inc novice, junior and senior):

Country Competitors
AUS 2
AUT 13
BEL 9
CRO 1
ESP 6
EST 4
FIN 5
FRA 8
GBR 12
HKG 5
ISL 9
*** 17 <— I think the message board doesn’t like the three letters for Japan... let’s try JPN
LUX 1
NED 29
SVK 1
SWE 15
SWI 12
ZAF 3

17 skaters from Japan! :yahoo:
 

YesWay

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Sep 28, 2013
17 skaters from Japan! :yahoo:
17?! Wow! Japan didn't send anybody last year, did they?

I will be interested to see if there are any "big name" Juniors or Seniors among them this year... I might even be tempted to go! (Except that it clashes with the Ladies competition at the Olympics... :-/

Closing date for "named" entries is 20th January... I hope they publish the list quickly...
 

Winnie_20

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 24, 2013
The timing is a bit awkward, indeed, but seeing as the Olympics are during the night... I will wait to see which skaters actually show up. I can always spend a night in the area at friends or just go there and back home in one day, and tickets are always plenty.

I am hoping for Wakaba. That would make actual sense to me...
 

YesWay

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The timing is a bit awkward, indeed, but seeing as the Olympics are during the night... I will wait to see which skaters actually show up. I can always spend a night in the area at friends or just go there and back home in one day, and tickets are always plenty.

I am hoping for Wakaba. That would make actual sense to me...
Wakaba alone might make it worth a trip! :-D Even though I will see her at World's (I learned a long time ago... if you have the chance, time and money to see your favourites... don't pass it up!)

She is first substitute for the Olympics though. I wonder how long she would be required to remain "on standby"? It might affect whether she can attend this competition. Only until a day or so before the Team competition? Or right until the Ladies individual competition?
 

Amer

Final Flight
Joined
Jan 16, 2014
Country
Italy
1 skater from LUX?
Please please let it be Fleur and that she shows up.
 

YesWay

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Sep 28, 2013
Good point. For her sake, I would much prefer her to be available for the Olympics. :agree:
I noticed that Wakaba was at Challenge Cup in both 2013 and 2014 - she won gold both times in the Advanced Novice competition.

I think it's about time for her to return, isn't it...?! :-D She'd probably pick up an extra 250 world standings points, easy...;-D
 

Harriet

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Joined
Oct 23, 2017
Country
Australia
I'm happy to see Switzerland sending such a big team, and I'll be interested to see if I've predicted who gets to go correctly...
 

Winnie_20

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 24, 2013
I noticed that Wakaba was at Challenge Cup in both 2013 and 2014 - she won gold both times in the Advanced Novice competition.

I think it's about time for her to return, isn't it...?! :-D She'd probably pick up an extra 250 world standings points, easy...;-D

Funny, I was at the 2013 competition, I would have seen her on the Saturday, at least. Can't say I have any memory of it, though. :laugh: I was mostly there to see Carolina Kostner and Brian Joubert live in Seniors.
Wakaba could probably stand still for both the SP and FS and still win the CC. It's not exactly a large competition, and with just about all the big names at the Olympics... heck, any Japanese skater going there could probably easily win.
 

YesWay

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Wakaba could probably stand still for both the SP and FS and still win the CC. It's not exactly a large competition, and with just about all the big names at the Olympics... heck, any Japanese skater going there could probably easily win.
I think 17 Japanese competitors have the potential to make it a "large" competition, from my point of view...! :-D

There's no Dance competition, and Japan doesn't have many Pairs teams. So if they actually send the full 17 skaters, then they must be mostly singles skaters? And despite clashing with the Olympics (and too close to Junior World's), there are still plenty of my other favourites that might go...

eg. Koshiro Shimada, Sota Yamamoto, Kazuki Tomono, Rika Hongo, Marin Honda, Mai Mihara, Yuna Shiraiwa, Yura Matsuda, Rin Nitaya, Nana Araki, Sui (3A) Takeuchi, etc...

Deadline for entries "by name" is next Saturday - I hope they are quick to publish the lists after that...
 

Winnie_20

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Joined
Feb 24, 2013
There's no Dance competition, and Japan doesn't have many Pairs teams. So if they actually send the full 17 skaters, then they must be mostly singles skaters? And despite clashing with the Olympics (and too close to Junior World's), there are still plenty of my other favourites that might go...
I must admit, the same thought has crossed my mind, too. Few Dance and Pairs teams, so the natural assumption would be, lots of single skaters. But of course Challenge Cup also includes Basic Novice and Advance Novice, aside from Junior and Senior, so there's really no telling who is gonna show up. I mean... with the glass-is-half-empty, if they're sending three Basic Novice ladies and men, three Advance Novice ladies and men, that's already 12 skaters, maybe a pair somewhere, that's 14...
Then again, those skaters would probably still be better than the vast majority of the rest of the field. :laugh:

Nah, it'll be interesting to see who is going to show up. I really wish they'd timed it better than during the Olympics, though. This sentence on the website is just... :-(
voor de senioren is het de laatste kans in voorbereiding op het wereldkampioenschap dat vanaf 19 maart in Milaan plaats vinden.
In theory, that's nice, last chance for seniors to prepare for Worlds. In practice, in the past, sure, skaters have been known to do that (think the French and Belgian skaters, Carolina Kostner etc.), but this time, that's simply impossible for most because they're on the other side of the world. So really, who among the Seniors does that leave? Wakaba, I guess, maybe, possibly. But how many other Seniors are there who aren't selected for the Olympics, but are for Worlds? Can't be too many...
 

YesWay

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I must admit, the same thought has crossed my mind, too. Few Dance and Pairs teams, so the natural assumption would be, lots of single skaters. But of course Challenge Cup also includes Basic Novice and Advance Novice, aside from Junior and Senior, so there's really no telling who is gonna show up. I mean... with the glass-is-half-empty, if they're sending three Basic Novice ladies and men, three Advance Novice ladies and men, that's already 12 skaters, maybe a pair somewhere, that's 14...
Then again, those skaters would probably still be better than the vast majority of the rest of the field. :laugh:
Ah, but I don't think Japan ever sends Basic Novices to International competitions? (Only Advanced Novices?)

So I reckon "glass-is-half-empty" is more like 3 Advanced Novice Ladies, 2-3 Advanced Novice Men, and maybe a Pairs team... that's only 7-8 places, leaving 9-10 for Juniors and Seniors...

eg. 3 Junior Ladies, 3 Senior Ladies, 2 Junior Men, 2 Senior Men :-D
(they rarely send more than 2 men to a "B" competition at any level...)

In theory, that's nice, last chance for seniors to prepare for Worlds. In practice, in the past, sure, skaters have been known to do that (think the French and Belgian skaters, Carolina Kostner etc.), but this time, that's simply impossible for most because they're on the other side of the world. So really, who among the Seniors does that leave? Wakaba, I guess, maybe, possibly. But how many other Seniors are there who aren't selected for the Olympics, but are for Worlds? Can't be too many...
Yes, I think so too...
 

Winnie_20

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Joined
Feb 24, 2013
eg. 3 Junior Ladies, 3 Senior Ladies, 2 Junior Men, 2 Senior Men :-D
(they rarely send more than 2 men to a "B" competition at any level...)
I like your half-empty glass better than mine, I'll drink whatever it is you're drinking. :agree:
 

YesWay

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Sep 28, 2013
Just announced by Japanese media:

https://www.daily.co.jp/general/2018/01/16/0010901627.shtml

Wakaba Higuchi
Marin Honda
Rika Hongo

are assigned to Challenge Cup!
Oh my...! Well that's me decided!!! :-D

It's already better than I dared to hope, and there could still be more of my favourites as well...!

I see in the same announcement, Sota Yamamoto, Kazuki Tomono, Yuna Shiraiwa, and Mai Mihara and Kaori Sakamoto are assigned to Coupe de Printemps in Luxembourg, post-Olympics, 16th March... so perhaps it's unlikely Sota or Kazuki will also be at Challenge Cup? I'm still hoping though...

(It's a shame Coupe de Printemps is so close to World's in Milan... or I'd almost certainly go to that as well! But alas, it's too close, travel is booked and non-refundable...)
 
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