2024 Europeans Entries | Page 7 | Golden Skate

2024 Europeans Entries

icewhite

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 7, 2022
Psquare are Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier. For some reason, we have always tended to call this partnership by their first names. I don't know why, but my guess is that it dates back to the days when Piper and her twin sister Alexe were competing in the same category. If somebody said "Gilles", you wouldn't be sure which sister it was. But if somebody said "Piper", you would, because it is such a distinctive name.

And when Piper partnered up with Paul, because their first names both start with "P", they became P Squared.

By the way, there is a guy that I went to school with, and his nickname was "Boom Boom". And over time, it became "Boom Squared".



I thought the same! It was only when somebody else commented that the penny had finally dropped for them that I started thinking and realised what it really meant.

Which reminds me, have you eaten your boyfriend instead of your breakfast lately? :p



With the number of skaters that I refer to as being "my kid", I'm surprised nobody has made that mistake with me. But I do remember not so long ago somebody believed @moonvine really was engaged to Jimmy Ma...



I nearly died when the mother of one of the Cypriot skaters I have adopted told me that the whole team read what I write about them.

And that is a lesson to us all. Be nice, because the person you are writing about is probably reading.

CaroLiza_fan

I would think it's quite unlikely people are reading what we write here. I would assume that if anything most athletes only read instagram, "x" and such. But even if they are I think athletes need to be able to deal with certain criticism and I think they usually are. Unless they are actual children or young teenagers. This is a good reason for the raise of the age limit. And of course some kinds of "criticism" should not
be accepted (body shaming, vulgarities etc.). But comparing skaters, pointing out their sportive weaknesses etc. should be okay. After all this is competitive sport. If you don't want to read that (which I wouldn't either) just don't read social media about yourself.
 

Weathergal

Medalist
Joined
May 25, 2014
Psquare are Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier. For some reason, we have always tended to call this partnership by their first names. I don't know why, but my guess is that it dates back to the days when Piper and her twin sister Alexe were competing in the same category. If somebody said "Gilles", you wouldn't be sure which sister it was. But if somebody said "Piper", you would, because it is such a distinctive name.

And when Piper partnered up with Paul, because their first names both start with "P", they became P Squared.

By the way, there is a guy that I went to school with, and his nickname was "Boom Boom". And over time, it became "Boom Squared".



I thought the same! It was only when somebody else commented that the penny had finally dropped for them that I started thinking and realised what it really meant.

Which reminds me, have you eaten your boyfriend instead of your breakfast lately? :p



With the number of skaters that I refer to as being "my kid", I'm surprised nobody has made that mistake with me. But I do remember not so long ago somebody believed @moonvine really was engaged to Jimmy Ma...



I nearly died when the mother of one of the Cypriot skaters I have adopted told me that the whole team read what I write about them.

And that is a lesson to us all. Be nice, because the person you are writing about is probably reading.

CaroLiza_fan

I would think it's quite unlikely people are reading what we write here. I would assume that if anything most athletes only read instagram, "x" and such. But even if they are I think athletes need to be able to deal with certain criticism and I think they usually are. Unless they are actual children or young teenagers. This is a good reason for the raise of the age limit. And of course some kinds of "criticism" should not
be accepted (body shaming, vulgarities etc.). But comparing skaters, pointing out their sportive weaknesses etc. should be okay. After all this is competitive sport. If you don't want to read that (which I wouldn't either) just don't read social media about yourself.

I agree with CaroLiza_fan that sometimes skaters do read forums such as Golden Skate. And if not skaters themselves, it can be their family members or friends. Yes, icewhite, I also agree with you that we all need to learn to take criticism (not always easy, even for grownups), but, as you pointed out, certain kinds of criticism goes over the line and we do need to be mindful that many competitors are minors (perhaps we need to channel our "inner Ted Barton" ;) sometimes and err on the side of kindness). So I'm glad for both of your comments. There's much more we could discuss on this topic, but this is all getting a bit OT so I'll stop there.
 

CaroLiza_fan

MINIOL ALATMI REKRIS · EZETTIE LATUASV IVAKMHA
Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 25, 2012
Country
Northern-Ireland

I take it Boom Squared did not have an awesome slapshot like Bernie "Boom Boom" Geoffrion's ?

There's actually a funny story behind the nickname. And, when you boil it all down, the reason is not too dissimilar.

One time during PE (Physical Education, in case this abbreviation is just used in the British Isles), Daryl fell and bounced. And the hall we were in was so echoey, that there were two big "booms". And from then on, he became known as "Boom Boom".

It must have happened pretty early on after we started First Form (11-12 years old), because I can't remember a time when we were at High School that he was not known as "Boom Boom", "Boom Squared", or "Da Booms".

Yes, it was kinda mean. But, he embraced it. So, all was good.

CaroLiza_fan
 

TT_Fin

The second worst besserwisser in the world
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 29, 2007
Country
Finland
I think this is the most exciting Europeans in ages, even dance. The predictions also vary a lot. I would not even give gold medal to Loena. She mus skate two clean programs also there. Some of he teens are "breathing down her neck" very closely. I just made my first prediction of the season and played a risk lottery with a little bit of patriotism there.
 

CrazyKittenLady

Cacti Connoisseur
Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 2, 2019
Country
Austria
I feel the same! The predictions for men are killing me. :dbana: I have an inkling there will be a surprise medallist, just can't figure out if it's gonna be Nik Memola, Vladimir Litvintsev, or Nika Egadze.
 

FlossieH

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 2, 2022
Country
United-Kingdom
I think this is the most exciting Europeans in ages, even dance. The predictions also vary a lot. I would not even give gold medal to Loena. She mus skate two clean programs also there. Some of he teens are "breathing down her neck" very closely. I just made my first prediction of the season and played a risk lottery with a little bit of patriotism there.
Loena's SB is over 20 points higher than that of the nearest person (Nina Pinzarrone). She would need to screw up and have someone else skate their best ever for her not to win. It can happen, as we saw last year - but I don't think it will unless Loena crumbles under the pressure (which is less likely than some of the others crumbling). Pinzarrone is likely to be her closest rival and I wouldn't be surprised to see a Belgian 1-2. Gubanova hasn't been consistent with technical elements this season and the judges don't seem to be buying either of her programmes. Repond is coming back from injury. She is very reliant on her technical score and her jumps were affected by her injury. She may struggle to medal again this year unless she is fully recovered. Kurakova has said that she is struggling with jumps now compared to when she was younger. She cannot consistently hit a 3-3 combination any more - sometimes she gets one with some under-rotation, but often just has a 3-2 now. Sarina Joos and Lorine Schild are strong technically, but are lacking in experience and performance skills. Lara Naki Gutman has hit 180+ twice domestically this season, but her international scores have been a fair bit lower. She seems to rarely put together two clean programmes in a competition. Nella Pelkonen would need to improve both her technical elements and PCS to have a chance of medalling and I feel she is someone who has already been skating to her current potential this season - she has come on a lot since last year and is transitioning really well to seniors. She has been very consistent this season, and could make the top group for the free if she skates clean and others make mistakes, but only having a 3T-3T combination has been limiting her TES.
 

labgoat

Coffee & Tea make everything better
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 3, 2007
Country
United-States
I am delighted but also a bit confused that Matteo Rizzo is entered. I thought he was out due to needing hip surgery Or did he just take a break from Nationals and plans surgery later. If he is healthy enough, I am always happy to see him skate.
 

Gia_Sesshoumaru

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 13, 2012
Country
United-States
I am delighted but also a bit confused that Matteo Rizzo is entered. I thought he was out due to needing hip surgery Or did he just take a break from Nationals and plans surgery later. If he is healthy enough, I am always happy to see him skate.

He will be having his surgery after Europeans, so is most likely going to be out of Worlds.
 

Skating91

Medalist
Joined
Sep 16, 2023
It's almost impossible for Loena to lose. Gubanova is being dragged well down on PCS since last season and she has to be absolutely perfect with her jumps to get acceptable GOE (some skaters can cheat on 5/7 landings and get really strong GOE maybe I'm missing something with Gubanova but I don't think so :shrug:). I'm not an expert of course I just go by what I see in frame by frame slow motion. Gubanova would have been the only realistic threat assuming Loena made errors.

But Loena can probably fall three times and win. Second place will struggle to break 190.
 

4everchan

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 7, 2015
Country
Martinique
It's almost impossible for Loena to lose. Gubanova is being dragged well down on PCS since last season and she has to be absolutely perfect with her jumps to get acceptable GOE (some skaters can cheat on 5/7 landings and get really strong GOE maybe I'm missing something with Gubanova but I don't think so :shrug:). I'm not an expert of course I just go by what I see in frame by frame slow motion. Gubanova would have been the only realistic threat assuming Loena made errors.

But Loena can probably fall three times and win. Second place will struggle to break 190.
Look at the overall skating. She doesn't seem as fluid as some others. I have not yet seen her skate live but on the stream it looks like she isn't that great on the blades
 

Skating91

Medalist
Joined
Sep 16, 2023
Look at the overall skating. She doesn't seem as fluid as some others. I have not yet seen her skate live but on the stream it looks like she isn't that great on the blades

Definitely she has issues she is slow and lacks stamina, but I think she is a very clear second best in the European field.
 

Jumping_Bean

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 17, 2022
Definitely she has issues she is slow and lacks stamina, but I think she is a very clear second best in the European field.
Not a fan of Nina, I take it (Or Niina, may she heal well).

Still, with Nina there, I'm not seeing the second-placed skater struggle to break 190. If it's Nina, she's scored over 190 at both of her GP events and the GP final, and if it's somebody else, they have to surpass Nina first, very likely breaking 190 in the process.
200+ on the other hand? Probably only Loena, though Euros can be quite generous in scoring, so who knows, really.
 

throw_triple_flip

Final Flight
Joined
Sep 7, 2023
Country
United-Kingdom
Look at the overall skating. She doesn't seem as fluid as some others. I have not yet seen her skate live but on the stream it looks like she isn't that great on the blades

Compared to other skaters at her level, it seems to me that rhe choreography of her programs might not meet the requirements for the Composition segment of the PCS quite so well? They seem more simple in some respects (like transitions, use of the rink space in terms of program layout)

When i was watching BBC coverage of either Olympics or worlds in 2022 I think I recall Robin Cousins mentioning something about the composition of her programs too.

Whether that's down to a conscious choice (with a reason behind it) or coach/choreographer not doing their jobs properly, I'm not sure.

But when you look at Hendrickx, you know that's a skater with coaches/choreographer that have a real knowledge of how to make the best of the current scoring system.
 
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TT_Fin

The second worst besserwisser in the world
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 29, 2007
Country
Finland
Wrong thread
 
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