2023-24 British and Irish Figure Skating

[DSQ]

My dog Willow got me introduced to the British Pairs Skaters at Skate America. I was walking outside the arena waiting for my relatives to finish watching the medal ceremonies when a nice man (later identified as Jason their coach) beckoned us over to meet Willow. He introduced Ana as a British Pairs skater and I told him how great it was to meet them. I said that I was the fan that held up the British flag when they finished their skate and that I had that flag in honor of my late wife who was from Malvern near Worcester. Jason then introduce me to Luke and then said this is Jenna. My comment "Jenna McCorkell?" was greeted with a nod and I said that I remembered her well as well as her husband Kevin and I had brought a Belgian flag with me as well. We had a nice long conversation and then Jason said they were all headed out to get a pint.

During the whole conversation, Ana was kneeling down on eye level stroking and talking to Willow . I was extremely impressed with how sweet Ana was and will be a dedicated fan of hers for life.

I apologize if I have the wrong short name for Anastasia but I think Ana was what Jason used when he introduced her. They were such a nice group of people and made it a very pleasant and happy way to end the evening.

My heart is melting! What a lovely story!

 

[DSQ]

The stream is working for France! I’m not sure why but I’m happy for now.

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

The Non-ISU part of the Denkova-Staviski Cup has been pretty good for the British girls that went to Sofia:

• Elizabeth DOHNAL (Chelmsford) was 2nd out of 13 in the Basic Novice I Ladies competition
• Jessica WORTH (Sheffield) was 8th out of 24 in Advanced Novice Ladies (8th in the SP; 7th in the FS)
• Isla SHENTON (Sheffield) was 10th out of 24 in Advanced Novice Ladies (6th in the SP; 10th in the FS)

The ISU part of the event starts tomorrow. And there are quite a few skaters from these islands competing:

• Arabella SEAR-WATKINS (Oxford) in Junior Ladies
• Alana PANG (Sheffield) in Junior Ladies
• Freya HANCOCK (Sheffield) in Junior Ladies
• Jacob CASEY (Oxford) in Junior Men
• Nina POVEY (Sheffield) in Senior Ladies
• Dillon JUDGE (Dublin) in Senior Men
• Brandon BAILEY (Oxford) in Senior Men

And that's the order they will be doing their Short Programmes in.

All the best to all of them!

CaroLiza_fan

 

[FlossieH]

I'm glad to see Arabella back after her injury in the JGP.

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

I'm glad to see Arabella back after her injury in the JGP.

And she finished as top British girl in the Juniors!

• Arabella SEAR-WATKINS (Oxford) was 12th out of 36 in Junior Ladies (11th in the SP; 12th in the FS)
• Freya HANCOCK (Sheffield) was 17th out of 36 in Junior Ladies (15th in the SP; 18th in the FS)
• Alana PANG (Sheffield) was 18th out of 36 in Junior Ladies (23rd in the SP; 16th in the FS)
• Jacob CASEY (Oxford) was 7th out of 8 in Junior Men (6th in the SP; 6th in the FS)
• Nina POVEY (Sheffield) was 3rd out of 19 in Senior Ladies (2nd in the SP; 4th in the FS)
• Brandon BAILEY (Oxford) was 8th out of 11 in Senior Men (9th in the SP; 8th in the FS)
• Dillon JUDGE (Dublin) was 10th out of 11 in Senior Men (11th in the SP; 9th in the FS)

OK, I'm going to be that person. Is Freya in any way related to Lucy Hancock? They're both from the Sheffield club, so I did wonder.

I was really impressed with Alana Pang in the FS. And I even posted a comment saying as much in the event thread! Such a pity things hadn't gone better in the SP.

Nina was so close to getting the Silver Medal! Just 2.29 points behind Anastasia GOZHVA (UKR).

As for the boys, well, they were being boys!

CaroLiza_fan

 

[Weetos]

Great to see Layla ad Liam have got their Euros minimums! Things are looking positive for filling all the ID championship spots, fingers crossed!

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Depending on what happens with the figure skating I might move across from Eurosport player to GCN+ for cycling. I probably need to consider what will be happening with rights for the Paris olympics too.

But, if Eurosport doesn't get the figure skating back and you don't mind losing the other sports, it might work out better for you to just get GCN+ for the cycling. Since you only watch online anyway, you wouldn't be losing out by not having the linear coverage. And from what I gather, it's the same commentators that you get on Eurosport anyway.

That said, I wouldn't be surprised if, sometime down the line, GCN+ gets merged into Discovery+. Because WBD have said all along that they don't want to have a lot of separate streaming services. They want to have everything under one umbrella. But, since Play Sports Network (the owner of GNC) is still operating separtely to Eurosport, WBD may let it's subscription services remain separate to Discovery+.

I'm still on the old Eurosport Player subscription - and the old price! My subscription is due for renewal soon and what happens with Figure Skating will determine whether I move to Discovery+ (£20 extra per year) for skating and cycling or move to GCN+ (same price as my current Eurosport Player) for just cycling.

Not figure skating related, but thought I should let you know something in case you hadn't heard yet.

GCN+ is closing down on 19th December:

https://www.globalcyclingnetwork.com/general/news/gcn-and-gcn-app-to-close

As I expected, all the content is moving over to Discovery+:

https://www.eurosport.com/cycling/g...s.-discovery-platforms_sto9883976/story.shtml

If you have already subscribed, you'll get a refund for whatever time is left on your subscription:

https://help.globalcyclingnetwork.com/hc/en-gb/articles/19965721079697

I don't know if the extra cycling content will be available for those still on old Eurosport Player subscriptions. If it is not, it looks like you will have to get Discovery+ if you want to watch the cycling and the Summer Olympic.

Although it is nice that the skating is now available for free on the ISU YouTube channel, I would still prefer it to be on Eurosport with nearly all the other sports I like. Apart from anything else, I came to like Chris and Louise commentating together.

So, although other fans probably think differently, I hope they get the rights back next season.

CaroLiza_fan

 

[Ruthypegs]

Lots of British skaters at this week's Warsaw Cup - GS event page here https://www.goldenskate.com/forum/forums/2023-cs-warsaw-cup.973/ stream is free

Both senior pairs teams (Smart/Mattick & Vaipan-Law/Digby) competing - 13.00 UK time Friday (short programme), 11.00 UK time Sunday (free)
Nina Povey & Kristen Spours - (women's short is on right now)
Ed Appleby - (Men's short has just taken place - he did well!), Free is 13.00 Saturday
Kaynes/Carr - rhythm dance 19.20 UK time Saturday

 

[Royston]

Lots of British skaters at this week's Warsaw Cup - GS event page here https://www.goldenskate.com/forum/forums/2023-cs-warsaw-cup.973/ stream is free

Both senior pairs teams (Smart/Mattick & Vaipan-Law/Digby) competing - 13.00 UK time Friday (short programme), 11.00 UK time Sunday (free)
Nina Povey - (women's short is on right now)
Ed Appleby - (Men's short has just taken place - he did well!), Free is 13.00 Saturday
Kaynes/Carr - rhythm dance 19.20 UK time Saturday

Kristen also competing. Interesting battle between her and Nina and both in good form.

 

[Ruthypegs]

Kristen also competing. Interesting battle between her and Nina and both in good form.

thank you! I completely missed Kristen - I've amended the post.

Yes, that will be an interesting contest, and also at Nationals

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Kristen also competing. Interesting battle between her and Nina and both in good form.

thank you! I completely missed Kristen - I've amended the post.

Yes, that will be an interesting contest, and also at Nationals

Unfortunately, Kristen was a withdrawal. Nina was 10th out of 31 in the SP.

And, as you hinted at @Ruthypegs, Edward APPLEBY (Romford) was 6th out of 25 in the SP.

Meanwhile, Isla FORSYTH (Kyle) won the Gold Medal in the Basic Novice III Ladies competition at Skate Celje in Slovenia this morning. There were 25 girls taking part.

There are two more skaters from the Kyle club competing later in the day (Nicole BRENNAN in Basic Novice I Ladies, and Macdonald LEWIS in Basic Novice Men), so hopefully Isla's success will provide motivation and inspiration for them.

Turning to the English clubs, Isla SHENTON (Sheffield) will doing her Advanced Novice SP this evening, and Arin YORKE (Nottingham) will be in action in the Junior Men's SP tomorrow afternoon.

Finally, at the NRW Trophy in Dortmond this morning, Mimi MARLER-DAVIES / Joseph BLACK (Alexandra Palace) finished 8th out of 14 in Advanced Novice Ice Dance (11th in PD1; 8th in PD2; 8th in FD).

It really is a busy week!

CaroLiza_fan

 

[Ruthypegs]

Unfortunately, Kristen was a withdrawal. Nina was 10th out of 31 in the SP.

And, as you hinted at @Ruthypegs, Edward APPLEBY (Romford) was 6th out of 25 in the SP.

Meanwhile, Isla FORSYTH (Kyle) won the Gold Medal in the Basic Novice III Ladies competition at Skate Celje in Slovenia this morning. There were 25 girls taking part.

There are two more skaters from the Kyle club competing later in the day (Nicole BRENNAN in Basic Novice I Ladies, and Macdonald LEWIS in Basic Novice Men), so hopefully Isla's success will provide motivation and inspiration for them.

Turning to the English clubs, Isla SHENTON (Sheffield) will doing her Advanced Novice SP this evening, and Arin YORKE (Nottingham) will be in action in the Junior Men's SP tomorrow.

Finally, at the NRW Trophy in Dortmond this morning, Mimi MARLER-DAVIES / Joseph BLACK (Alexandra Palace) finished 8th out of 14 in Advanced Novice Ice Dance (11th in PD1; 8th in PD2; 8th in FD).

It really is a busy week!

CaroLiza_fan

Anthony Currie and Eleanor Hirst competing at NRW too, as are Charlotte Man and Toby Mann.

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Anthony Currie and Eleanor Hirst competing at NRW too, as are Charlotte Man and Toby Mann.

For goodness sake. There are so many competitions on this week that I knew I would end up missing somebody!

And I also missed out both of the Singles skaters at the NRW Trophy, who did their Short Programmes yesterday and will be doing their Free Skates this afternoon.

Kendal McKENZIE (Nottingham) was 27th out of 40 in the Advanced Novice Ladies SP. And Tao MACRAE (BIS) was 10th out of 11 in the Junior Men's SP.

Apologies to all the skaters I missed.

CaroLiza_fan

 

[Ruthypegs]

Without giving anything away to those who haven't had chance to catch up on the Warsaw cup, both British Pairs teams had great skates! Really fantastic to see two lovely short programmes back to back!

 

[sparkle400]

For Skate America I used the Opera internet browser which has a free inbuilt VPN. You need to turn the VPN on and set it to 'Europe' before you go to the Skating ISU youtube page. Last year, the ISU stream for Skate America was geoblocked here (but could be viewed with an appropriate VPN), but the other senior GPs and the GP final were then available. I don't know whether the same will happen this year.

Thank you

 

[Ruthypegs]

Two more great skates for the two British Senior Pairs Teams in today's Free at the Warsaw Cup!

Lovely performances from Hirst and Currie at the NRW Trophy, too

 

[Ruthypegs]

Without giving anything away to those who haven't had chance to catch up on the Warsaw cup, both British Pairs teams had great skates! Really fantastic to see two lovely short programmes back to back!

- YouTube

Auf YouTube findest du die angesagtesten Videos und Tracks. Außerdem kannst du eigene Inhalte hochladen und mit Freunden oder gleich der ganzen Welt teilen.

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#6 Anastasia VAIPAN LAW / Luke DIGBY GBR Pairs SP - CS Warsaw Cup 2022

www.youtube.com

 

[Ruthypegs]

Two more great skates for the two British Senior Pairs Teams in today's Free at the Warsaw Cup!

Lovely performances from Hirst and Currie at the NRW Trophy, too

- YouTube

Auf YouTube findest du die angesagtesten Videos und Tracks. Außerdem kannst du eigene Inhalte hochladen und mit Freunden oder gleich der ganzen Welt teilen.

www.youtube.com

#10 Anastasia VAIPAN LAW Luke DIGBY GBR P FS CSPOL2023

www.youtube.com

Eleanor Hirst / Anthony Currie - NRW Trophy 2023 Free Dance

Eleanor Hirst / Anthony Currie - NRW Trophy 2023 Free DanceFifth Place

www.youtube.com

 

[Weetos]

Thank you for posting! I am just catching up. My pairs knowledge is abysmal but I enjoyed them all Harry and Lydia's throw jumps were wow

 

[thatdarncat]

Thanks for these, Lydia and Harry have improved since I saw them on the BBC program, think I saw them off ice at my local rink a couple of weeks a go too.