2021-22 Retirements, Splits & Partner Changes

[IceDancingQueen]

My goodness! :shocked: That's another one I didn't see coming!

When Sasha and George's split was announced last week, I commented the following:



I was worried that the same thing might happen again now. Little did I realise that this time round it would actually be the Waddell brothers making major changes at the same time!

So sad to hear this. I really liked Natalie and Bruce. Does anybody know if they are both planning to continue, or if one or both are stopping to concentrate on their education?

Whatever their plans, I wish them both all the best for the future.

CaroLiza_fan

I really liked them too! It’s so sad all these junior teams splitting

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

Danny Neudecker has split with Sasha Fakhroutdinov, and newly paired up with Grace Hanns (who was formerly paired with Jim Garbutt). Neudecker formerly competed successfully with Nica Digerness, who reportedly has been partnered and training with Mark Sadusky, in Colorado. These are all U.S. senior pairs skaters. Only Hanns/Garbutt competed at U.S. Nationals, in 2022. Danny/Sasha were in position to make 2022 Nationals after their sp at an early qualifying competition, but they had too many problems in their fp, and thus dropped in the standings and missed the cut. I am not surprised that they split. I wish that Danny & Nica had stayed together. But, I suppose injuries played a part in their break-up. Good luck to all!

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cdd3hWzrUxc/

 

[elbkup]

Danny Neudecker has split with Sasha Fakhroutdinov, and newly paired up with Grace Hanns (who was formerly paired with Jim Garbutt). Neudecker formerly competed successfully with Nica Digerness, who reportedly has been partnered and training with Mark Sadusky, in Colorado. These are all U.S. senior pairs skaters. Only Hanns/Garbutt competed at U.S. Nationals, in 2022. Danny/Sasha were in position to make 2022 Nationals after their sp at an early qualifying competition, but they had too many problems in their fp, and thus dropped in the standings and missed the cut. I am not surprised that they split. I wish that Danny & Nica had stayed together. But, I suppose injuries played a part in their break-up. Good luck to all!

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cdd3hWzrUxc/

I Danny and Nica! So sorry their partnership split..

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

Only Hanns/Garbutt competed at U.S. Nationals, in 2022.

I must make a correction! Hanns competed as Evelyn Grace Hanns at 2019 U.S. Nationals, in junior pairs, with Kristofer Ogren. After that season, she apparently teamed with Jim Garbutt (who had skated at the 2019 U.S. National championships in junior pairs, with Sarah Rose). Hanns/Garbutt, competed in senior pairs at the 2021 U.S. National championships, placing 8th in the sp, 9th in the fp, and 9th overall.

Hanns/Garbutt DID NOT compete at U.S. Nationals in 2022.

 

[Sackie]

Seems to be a lot of teams/skaters that hinted about the Olympics and or worlds being their last events that haven't officially retired yet, like MTM2 or James/Radford, or Piper and Paul. Or did I miss the announcements (which is very possible)?

 

[Seven Sisters]

Seems to be a lot of teams/skaters that hinted about the Olympics and or worlds being their last events that haven't officially retired yet, like MTM2 or James/Radford, or Piper and Paul. Or did I miss the announcements (which is very possible)?

I suspect that many will wait to say that they are “taking a break” until the week before the Grand Prix assignments are announced.

 

[4everchan]

Seems to be a lot of teams/skaters that hinted about the Olympics and or worlds being their last events that haven't officially retired yet, like MTM2 or James/Radford, or Piper and Paul. Or did I miss the announcements (which is very possible)?

mtm2.0 by not going to worlds and kirsten declaring she is completely afraid of the twist at this point and was looking for another partner for michael before the season started... seems like it's a done deal...

james and radford : they said they were not sure about next season.... i wonder if the worlds medal will make the scale lean one way or the other....

piper and paul : no hints.. no nothing. being dropped by the judges certainly doesn't help... should they try one more season to see where they rank in the pecking order of a new quad, especially since their weakness, the pattern dance part of the RD is gone.

 

[GoneWithTheWind]

Vadym Kolesnik has formed a new ice dance partnership with Emilea Zingas (previously a singles skater, representing Cyprus). Looks like they will be representing the US, as they've tagged US figure skating. Good luck to them in their new adventure together!

 

[labgoat]

All these splits and partner changes make me appreciate teams like Tai & Randy, Meryl & Charlie, Tessa & Scott , Klimova & Ponomarenko, and Gabi & Guillaume are really rare. I could name more, but I think that it can make a big difference.

 

[moonvine]

Vadym Kolesnik has formed a new ice dance partnership with Emilea Zingas (previously a singles skater, representing Cyprus). Looks like they will be representing the US, as they've tagged US figure skating. Good luck to them in their new adventure together!

That's odd. I would think they'd represent Cyprus. There are a LOT of teams ahead of them in the US. Emilea was my favorite Cyprus skater. I wish them the best.

 

[Gia_Sesshoumaru]

That's odd. I would think they'd represent Cyprus. There are a LOT of teams ahead of them in the US. Emilea was my favorite Cyprus skater. I wish them the best.

Perhaps it's a citizenship thing? She already has US citizenship, and he's been living there for a while.

 

[Lamente Ariane]

Perhaps it's a citizenship thing? She already has US citizenship, and he's been living there for a while.

There could also be the issue of funding— Cyprus already has one very promising dance team, but I’m not sure if they are able to give much financial support to a second (or at all).

 

[theblade]

Vadym won his World Championship title representing the US so USFSA wouldn't exactly be thrilled with releasing such a talent. It is going to be a very interesting senior dance competition at nationals next year. A lot of teams will be ready and who knows what the standings could look like.

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Vadym Kolesnik has formed a new ice dance partnership with Emilea Zingas (previously a singles skater, representing Cyprus). Looks like they will be representing the US, as they've tagged US figure skating. Good luck to them in their new adventure together!

https://www.instagram.com/p/CdlXGOgLqHl/

What the...????!!!!

Very, very sad to hear that Emilea's Singles career is coming to an end. Although I wasn't a fan of her style of skating (after a while it became obvious that she was modelling herself on Ashley Wagner and, well, I never liked Ashley's style of skating), I really liked Emilea herself and what she was doing to help put Cyprus on the figure skating map. Let's not forget, it was Emilea that was making all the headlines during the first season after she and Marilena switched to Cyprus.

The thing that really got me behind Emilea, though, was all the abuse she was getting last season. It was disgraceful the things some people were saying. She did not deserve that. And I really hope that this decision to switch to Dance is because she wanted to help her friend out, and not a reaction to the abuse she was getting.

Although I am sad that she will (probably) not be representing Cyprus any more, I am happy that she is continuing to compete. And I am looking forward to seeing what they are like together. The partnership Vadym had with Avonley Nguyễn was just magic, so if even a little bit of that magic returns in this partnership with Emilea, they will be very good!

All the best to Emilea and Vadym.

And welcome to my crazy "family", Vadym!

CaroLiza_fan

P.S. On a trivial note, although I was angry about not getting it done, I'm now relieved that I had not had the time to do the major reconstruction of the Team Cyprus Fan Fest that I planned to do during the past couple of weeks. Because I would now be having to undo a large part of it! (That said, I did spend three entire days doing all the preparations! Which now has to be re-worked. )​

 

[Skater Boy]

mtm2.0 by not going to worlds and kirsten declaring she is completely afraid of the twist at this point and was looking for another partner for michael before the season started... seems like it's a done deal...

james and radford : they said they were not sure about next season.... i wonder if the worlds medal will make the scale lean one way or the other....

piper and paul : no hints.. no nothing. being dropped by the judges certainly doesn't help... should they try one more season to see where they rank in the pecking order of a new quad, especially since their weakness, the pattern dance part of the RD is gone.

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

That's odd. I would think they'd represent Cyprus. There are a LOT of teams ahead of them in the US. Emilea was my favorite Cyprus skater. I wish them the best.

Perhaps it's a citizenship thing? She already has US citizenship, and he's been living there for a while.

There could also be the issue of funding— Cyprus already has one very promising dance team, but I’m not sure if they are able to give much financial support to a second (or at all).

Maybe it is just wishful thinking on my part, but I can't help thinking of when Nikita Vitryanyuk got together with Maria Miliukova (his second Dance partner). They were initially announced as representing Russia, but by the time of their first competition, they were representing Cyprus.

But, the point I am trying to make is this. Maria and Nikita both had Russian citizenship, but only Nikita had Cypriot citizenship. Yet they still opted for Cyprus. (I should add at this point that although Nikita represented Cyprus for most of his Singles career, his first Dance partnership with Anastasia Burkina was representing Russia).

As it turned out, Maria and Nikita had a very successful first half of the season together, regularly up there with Angelina Kudriavtseva / Ilia Karankevich, and then split unexpectedly. Nikita did came back later in the season with Diana Lekhtman, but they only did one competition together (Cypriot Nationals).

So, Cyprus has had two Ice Dance partnerships on the go at the same time before, and both were doing very well. Admittedly, both of the partnerships back then were competing at Advanced Novice level, whereas the scenario we are theorising about is 1 partnership at Junior level and 1 partnership at Senior level. Or even 2 partnerships at Senior level. But, the point still stands.

I'm still holding out hope that Emilea and Vadym will end up representing Cyprus.

Does anybody know if Vadym actually has American citizenship? I don't really pay enough attention to American skating to know things like this. But, if he doesn't have American citizenship, it would be a good sign.

Either way, I'm looking forward to seeing them compete.

CaroLiza_fan

 

[Skater Boy]

I would love to see Piper and Paul continue and reach their full potential. One team is going to be very "lucky" to win a world title next year most likely. I am not saying the American or italians aren't good but these are teams that also if Russia was competing and if Piper and Paul moved up or something could be off the podium. I remember thinking the same with Barbara and her partner won for Italy and the French and the Bulgarians- good teams but also teams that could be lower or off the podium. I still feel Dubreil and Lauzon should have a world title but life can be cruel. I think Kristen is finished competitively. Duhamel and Radford didn't really super click but to win a bronze medal maybe they should take it and run. I am not sure what kid of market there is for them for pro skating. I wonder if Eric kind of destroyed the money in pro skate because one would think world titles and olympic medal with Duhamel was more marketable than a one season which honstly did n't have nay truly great skates. We expected smthin artistic fromt his tam and never came to fruition.

 

[ana]

Best of luck to Vadym and Emilea! I can't wait to see them skate together.

 

[GoneWithTheWind]

I would love to see Piper and Paul continue and reach their full potential. One team is going to be very "lucky" to win a world title next year most likely. I am not saying the American or italians aren't good but these are teams that also if Russia was competing and if Piper and Paul moved up or something could be off the podium.

I disagree that either Chock/Bates or Guignard/Fabbri would be "very lucky" to win a World title. Both teams are highly successful in their own right, C/B have some of the best lifts in the field and have unique, appealing programs while G/F are very accomplished technicians who are often underscored. Both teams would be well deserving of a title, regardless of who is competing, in my opinion.

While S/K may have the advantage over both teams if they were competing, I don't think G/P or S/B competing would necessarily stop either team winning, C/B have only lost to G/P once for the whole quad (2021 Worlds), and have never lost to S/B. With H/D and P/C both (most likely) out, I don't see C/B dropping off the World podium this season or behind G/P or S/B, unless C/B make egregious errors or make an awful program choice. The new GOE-focused, less tech ice dance requirements also play in C/B's favour and they'll be the undisputed US no.1s.

G/F have placed behind both G/P and S/B more often, but they are more technically solid and have better skating skills than both teams; they also beat G/P by a significant amount at both the Olys and 2022 Worlds. They are probably less likely to win the title, but would be just as deserving of a World medal.

 

[peepsquick]

I would love to see Piper and Paul continue and reach their full potential. One team is going to be very "lucky" to win a world title next year most likely. I am not saying the American or italians aren't good but these are teams that also if Russia was competing and if Piper and Paul moved up or something could be off the podium. I remember thinking the same with Barbara and her partner won for Italy and the French and the Bulgarians- good teams but also teams that could be lower or off the podium. I still feel Dubreil and Lauzon should have a world title but life can be cruel. I think Kristen is finished competitively. Duhamel and Radford didn't really super click but to win a bronze medal maybe they should take it and run. I am not sure what kid of market there is for them for pro skating. I wonder if Eric kind of destroyed the money in pro skate because one would think world titles and olympic medal with Duhamel was more marketable than a one season which honstly did n't have nay truly great skates. We expected smthin artistic fromt his tam and never came to fruition.

They have hit their ceiling imo but I would love to see them go back to their previous quirky style ...