2018 Ondrej Nepela Trophy: Thoughts?

[GS Forum Staff]

Hi Folks!

Check out some of our clips and photos from the competition

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

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

 

[Roast Toast]

Of course -- Rika! Wow those axels looked easy! I'm not gonna lie, it almost brought a tear to my eyes to see a tiny Japanese lady start to walk into Mao's footsteps. She would have been, what, seven years old when Mao landed her two triple axels in the Vancouver Olympics free skate? Nothing will ever replace her for me, but this was very, very sweet to watch. I hope Mao is reminded of how much she means to the newer generation of Japanese figure skaters and her fans across the world.

 

[Bluediamonds09]

Oh, the state of US ladies.

 

[DiamondDust]

I've only seen the ladies so...

Rika Kihira...that's a beautiful storm! Both programs are lovely, her costumes look nice, and she smashed the competition! A well deserved win and simply impressive.

Elizabet......Despite of the errors, she did a good job overall. I just think she needs more time to turn this into a nice tango

Polina...Too bad for her, but I think her program does have potential should she be able to polish it.

 

[el henry]

Oh the state of the US Pairs

I loooved Ashley & Tim’s short. As in What a wonderful, peppy, fast moving skate, with so many unusual moves, and Ashley and Tim both sell it like the rent is due. I am going to make certain I watch this program in every comp they skate. The long was elegant and crisp, but my heart belongs to their SP.

And that is saying something as they were competing directly against my gal Deanna and my homie Nate. That tango; I’m no huge fan of tango programs, but if you must have one, full grown mature adults like Deanna and Nate bringing the smolder and sass are what you want.

 

[draqq]

- Kihara's two 3As in the free skate were tremendous and even better than many of the men. So long as she doesn't pop them, she's the frontrunner for the Japanese National Champion.

- Elizabet has been revived. Her short program showed her great strides in the spins, footwork, and transitions. She has the body type that fits the Eteri camp. She still needs to work on getting full rotation, though, and bringing that tango to life.

- Cain/Le Duc have a wonderful start to the season with two wins in senior Bs

- Kolyada seems very prepared for the season and very comfortable performing high-quality 3Lz instead of attempting the 4Lz.

- The judges are sending a message that Sinitsina/Katsalapov are ready to be on the podium with PCS scores ranging in the 9s.

 

[Interspectator]

Rika Kihira! I just watched her LP and she's got it all. A well rounded skater, though young and with room to improve, who can lay down two 3As with ease and elegance. Can she do it consistently this season?
All eyes will be glued on her progress. :shocked:

 

[Crossover]

Those are first things that string on my mind when it comes to highlights of the event. I'll add more later.

Men: Kolada's sassy and cool SP skating to MUSE, Voronov's FS choreographed by Denis Ten
Ladies: Kihira's three 3Axels! Tursynbaeva's SP and changes after moving back to Etei
Dance: MaNamara/Carpenter FD, Popova/Mozgov FD
Pairs: Cain/LeDuc's FS, Stellato/Bartholomay's FS

Overall, I was very impressed by Kihira's athletic abilities and transformed appearance as a senior. What a successful senior debut it was after disastrous performances at 2018 Junior Worlds. I can't believe she was the same person. :agree:

 

[friedbanana]

Rika Kihira is an axel overlord

 

[Mrs. P]

So one of my new favorites came from the FD -- I adored the disco free dance of Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson (GBR). The music was great -- "Bad Girls" and "On the Radio" by Donna Summer and "September" by Earth, Wind and Fire and with a little early Michael Jackson thrown in. I felt they cued the elements so well to the music and they really brought a lot of life and energy to it.

I also really enjoyed all three of the Russian men in the free skate. All brought a different vibe. I like Mikhail Kolyada's interpretation of Carmen, I was surprised how much the "Greatest Show" music worked Alexander Samarin (he was really into it) and I'm glad Sergei was able to honor Denis' Ten's memory through his choreography.

 

[TheBallerina]

I've watched only ladies and men, so here are my thoughts:

After the ladies event, I left with a strong impression about Rika: oh boy, she is going to be a fierce competitor this year. Not only her 3A, but her program was also enjoyable, so she is the complete package. Good for her, she belongs in the group of ladies who bring further developments for the ladies category, so I can not do anything, but applaud her for her determination.:clapper: She really has the skills, now she will need to pass the nerves test too, because here she really performed withough any fear (her competitors did not perform too well). It will be an interesting season for sure. :thumbsup:

Lil' Bet is back! Her programs really suit her, she has beautiful dresses and her technical elements are looking better and better. I am very happy for her :luv17:

Polina...oh man, I was rooting for her, but this competition broke my heart. I hope she will be able to control her nerves (she did very good in trainings, so the jumps are there, but something is happening during comps). I like her programs, especially the LP, so she just needs to build on them.

Misha Kolyada - I like both his programs, he really owned that Carmen :thumbsup: He's the new world record holder, so he is ready to compete at the top this season, too. :luv17:

I loved Sergei's choreos for both his programs, especially his SS are great, he was always a great entertainer, hope the consistency will come for him. Lord Samarin showed such a great love for skating, so much enthusiasm and happiness, it was a pleasure to watch him.

 

[century2009]

MEN

Kolyada: He seems cautious going into the programs and playing out the layout. I assume he is going to upgrade the 3Lz to a quad, but not sure given how inconsistent it was and maybe best to leave it as a triple given this new scoring system. But we will see because having only the quad toe will not be enough.

I dont understand the Muse SP. It feels random. It feels like the music is the background to the skating, so he could be skating to anything. He has done better programs than this and not as creative.

His FP is one of the most common pieces and dont think it is his voice. It feels like someone else picked it for him because of a school project. It is "textbook" music, and he is looking to get straight As from the teacher. I feel like he is still finding his music.

Voronov: I like how he is pushing himself with a quad loop, but still a work in progress. He probably feels it is a necessary upgrade given his younger competitors having the PCs and quads that he is still working on. He just needs to be more consistent and he can be a spoiler to Kolyada and Aliev.

Prefer the FP to the SP. The SP is typical and nothing new. The FP is more new and appreciate the different direction to make him standout.

David Samohin: A guilty pleasure because he has so much potential back in juniors. But it is sad to see his team failing him. He needs another coach because how could you go over the time limit for the SP when it has always been the same.

He has been stagnant and sad to see him being wasted. He is just not getting the right training and technique.

LADIES
Great splash for Rika! She showed she can be a contender for gold if she is consistent with her 3axel. It is an interesting battle for the women in Japan, and overall.

 

[QueenOfTheRoad]

I had time only to watch the men skating and i have a lot of mixing feelings about.

The program i thought i won't like, Carmen, is one of my fav this year. Mika works great with this music.

The program i thought i would love was Voronov's FS. I loved his FS last year and now with Ten's choreography i was really hopeful. But i was bored from it, sorry :sad21:. Till the last steps part is has no fire and is pretty empty. I like much more his short.

Tanaka is Tanaka. He is a lovely skater but somehow has nothing to make me love his skating.

Samarin's FS has such an annoying music. He tries, but the program shows his weaknesses at this moment. Skating right after Kolyada probably underlined them even more.

Moris needs another choreograph. He has some lovely qualities and they get under in his programs. Especially the short looks pretty empty at this moment.

Edit to add:
The men medal ceremony was so funny. Especially the cute Voronov-Kolyada moment :luv17:.
How the heck could Samohin's team make such a mistake with the length of the short?

 

[elektra blue]

- kolyada looked ready for the season, hopefully he'll also be consistent. we'll know in just to weeks.

- my huge crush voronov skating at this level at his age it's already an achievement per se. imo he did justice to denis ten memory and totally deserved his silver.

- sean rabbit put on an amazing performance in the sp, a very few things bore me like 50s movies sountracks, but he sold it.

- kihira's the one to watch this season, her fs's already amazing and something's saying to me it'll improve before the gp starts.

now a question: what music moris is skating to in the fs?

 

[lavoix]

This is Kihira's season to lose, she did fantastic, loved her SP very much. The LP is a bit boring but she'll grow into it. Now, can she stay consistent? I was also very glad to see Tursynbaeva do so well. It's about time! She deserves it and is great that she's finally in the mix for medals. Eteri's training style is definitely right for her. Stanislava, I still don't get her, never have, never will. She looks awkward on the ice. I was very disappointed, however, to see Tsurskaya. That was a horrible skate on both days. Very concerning.

Sinitsina/Katsalapov look in great shape! Love their programs this season, even if they are too Zhulin for my liking. Popova/Mozgov, looked ok, but I know they can do better. I'm finding their music choices a bit too bland for my liking, and they are a more dramatic couple than what their music suggests.

 

[el henry]

-

.....
- sean rabbit put on an amazing performance in the sp, a very few things bore me like 50s movies sountracks, but he sold it.

....

I totally agree with your assessment of Sean, but just as a point of information.:

Sean was skating to West Side Story, which is a 50s Broadway show. Music by famed classical conductor Leonard Bernstein. Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Not just another Broadway show or 50s movie, but one of the all time greats.

You still may be bored by it, which is your right (Sean chose to use instrumental versions of songs from the show, which makes it less accessible, IMHO) but it is not a generic 50s (60s by the time the movie came out) soundtrack

 

[Nika09]

Another week full of FS events. Do I mind? Not at all

Firstly: I'd enjoy Ondrej Nepela Trophy even more if there could be appropriate streaming, or camerawork I should say. Because the one we had was torture to watch.

And then in whole, it became a competition, where gold medalists were ahead of the rest of field by country mile.

Exept for Ladies though. Let's agree that Elizabet was very good too but my Godness Rika...it was really difficult to someone to catch up with (Japanese Ladies field this year...sigh...). I like both of Rika's programs. And especially FS. It's pleasure to see she's working not only with technical elements, but improving her artistry as well. If she'll continously that way, and I wish she'll, she'd become one of the top Ladies over there.
But wasn't Elizabet also amazing? Surprisingly I like her "Moonlight Sonata" so much. And her costumes!! She looks absolutely beautiful in any aspect.
Stanislava...she should work on her spins, like asap. In SP for a moment I thought it was twizzle entry into the spin?! But then again. Also that forced jumps looks really painful. But steps were good though. And...poor Polina..

In Men's event Mikhail was winner without any doubt. I like his SP so much (aside of that costume). This style really suits him, and it seems he really enjoying it while skating. And I like Carmen FP more than I thought I will. Congrats Misha!
I want to say thank you to Sergei for his FP! I like Way Down We go before and now it brings tears to my eyes every time when I'm hearing this song now.
I like actually like Keinji's SP. But he was really struggling during first half of his S here.. Problems with the jumps, loosing connection with the music. But StSq looks good. I think this program will improve throughout the season and will be very interesting to watch.
What a shame Morisi end up away from podium by less than half point!! Even if people losing World's, Olympic Gold with that kind of margin (Sui/Han?) all the way, I guess I'll never get used to it.

Just a few teams in Pair's event
Cain/Leduc were super to watch! I like their SP so much. Fun and entertaining. FP is also beautiful, but for me this music is associated with P/C Waltz SD and i can't help but think of this mesmerising program every time.
Stellato/Bartholomey SP was my favourite program within Pairs (and even ID?) during ONT. Even there're plenty of tangos this program is stand out. Beautiful, original and very interesting to watch! Also I like Deanna's dress. In whole they were looking more ID team than Pair's team.
Want to congratulate Kudryavtseva/Spiridonov with first medal during senior circuit! FP was OK, but music cuts in SP hurt my ears though.
Btw wasn't Ilia skating with another partner during junior's? They were so good together! Anyway congrats and good luck for this young team.
As for Ghilardi/Ambrossini...another tango SP with Lady in jumpsuit?! Program was good itself, but this costumes for tango program was really distracting for me.

IceDance event was little bit boring imo. I really like tango programs, but from what i watched so far, other than ID disciplines somehow managed to pick up more interesting music choices for tangos, than dance teams. And here in RD too. Programs of all three medalist team's were so similar (I mean in presentation aspect not technical). All I could say is - just tango.
Sinitsina/Katsalapov FD is beautiful but boy...I just can't with here costume (or absence of one I should say?).
And imo I like Tessari/Fioretti FD more than McNamara/Carpenter or Popova/Mozgov FD's. Just shame they can't fully deliver it. P/M have some interesting lifts in their FD though.

Additionally, costumes I hope to not see anymore, lately in the season:
- Kolyada SP costume
- Ghilardi SD jumpsuit
- Sinitsina FD dress (?)

 

[elektra blue]

I totally agree with your assessment of Sean, but just as a point of information.:

Sean was skating to West Side Story, which is a 50s Broadway show. Music by famed classical conductor Leonard Bernstein. Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Not just another Broadway show or 50s movie, but one of the all time greats.

You still may be bored by it, which is your right (Sean chose to use instrumental versions of songs from the show, which makes it less accessible, IMHO) but it is not a generic 50s (60s by the time the movie came out) soundtrack

i agree with you on west side story, but i was talking about east of Eden

 

[LittleLotte29]

MEN

Thank Skating Gods, Kolyada (and his coach) said goodbye to the cringe and decided to harness good ol' Carmen that they know (and we know) does wonders. So it did - Misha's FS is fierce, toreador-ish and plain classy. Carmen indeed IS perfect to highlight his speed, strength and expression. It is a safe choice - but an effective one.
The Muse SP on the other hand... Not so much. It will surely/hopefully look very different at the upcoming events, yet so far it is, well, very generic. It's far from bad - it's just that the better the skater is, the more you expect from him.

Voronov looks good albeit not prominent. I have this unfortunate feeling of watching the same program on repeat every season, and every season his music annoys me just a tad more. Different tastes we have, oh so very different. This apart, Voronov looks very competition-ready, as almost always at the beginning of the season.

Tanaka - strong Nobunari Oda vibes. Thank God he's better at calculus and doesn't Zayak so badly.

LADIES

Rika Kihira looks great, almost too great for such an early stage of the season. Her 3A is huge, even more so in the combination. It does look indeed that Rika could lead the field among ladies, all the senior ladies, that is, were she able to keep cool.

Tursynbaeva is a perfect little member of The Eteri Team. Body-wise, she's an eternal junior lady, flying over the ice like a cute little fairy. Danill's choreo seemingly fits her like a glove. She looks more natural and comfortable than I have ever seen her skating before.

Stasya - oh God, this girl can glide. If only her jumps were half as good. She's one of the unicorn-like rare skaters that have better legs than arms. Her programs aren't exactly perfect (to the point of slight tackiness) yet she sells them with confidence.

Polina - I have a hard time remembering when I was THAT disappointed (with programs, not with skater, obviously). Her programs are God-awful. Full stop. SP is tacky as hell, it doesn't go well with the music, the choreo elements are random (not oh-that's-unexpected kind of random, rather a wth-have-I-just-seen kind of random), jumps, spins and steps don't have much to do with the music. Her FS is slightly better, although kinda sorta uninspired, it's still more convincing than the SP.

PAIRS

Ashley and Tim look like they are going to fight for national title. Their unison is insane, kind of pity that they aren't very capable of translating this unison into chemistry and connection. They do have elegance and flow, just a tiny little bit more connection and they can suddenly and surprisingly find themselves top contenders.

Deanna is awesome! And she's FIERCE. Ambition is there. Execution... Not so much, but we'll see.

Lina and Ilia look precisely like one would think them to look - like a very fresh, though amazingly talented, team. They are very strong individual skaters and it shows, at this point however it is difficult to assess their potential.

ICE DANCE

Vika and Nikita's victory makes me very, very happy They have possibly the best tango I have seen so far this season. The first part of their FD is absolutely gorgeous (AT LAST they skate in unison and they skate together), the second one is borderline Zhulin-ish. They sell it, though. Judges in Bratislava were more than happy to buy it, and they didn't skimp on the components either.
Zhulin apparently sees Vika as the new Navka. As long as it inspires him to give them SUCH programs, I'm cool with it.

Lorraine and Quinns' levels are pure madness! 4s almost all over the board. I like their departure from their usual high energy style, while their FD may not be fascinating, it is solid and pretty, and definitely very suitable for this stage of their careers. It will help them ground as solid, skaters with huge potential that are capable of showing themselves in very different styles.

Betina and Sergey are entertaining, as always. As a huge Master and Margarita fan I was over the moon with their FD. The final effect though doesn't look final at all, more like half-done. Lifts are cool and innovative, and goodness me, Krylova surely sees Betina as the younger version of herself. I could easily imagine her and Ovsyannikov skating both RD and FD. My only question is - who is Sergey? Given that Betina is surely Margarita (alternatively Hella, but I doubt so) - is Sergey Voland? Azazello? Master?

 

[kwanatic]

Talk of the event was Rika Kihira.

With her making the jump to seniors this year, this performance just put her in the medal conversation. She's such a well-rounded skater and has been for a long time. Her issue has always been her nerves. I'm really hoping she can stay calm and just skate this year. If she does I wouldn't be shocked to see her on top of the podium at the major events. No one else in the field can do three 3As in one competition. That is huge for her.

Fingers are definitely crossed!

Elizabet is looking solid. I don't know that she'll ever be able to contend for the top spot in a stacked field (can't compete in PCS with the big names) but if she can lay down her content well she could land on a few podiums this year.

Polina is such an immense talent. I'm so hoping she can find her stride this year. It was terrible to see her struggle so much here. Hopefully she'll get better as the season goes on.