2025 World Championships Practice Reports | Page 16 | Golden Skate

2025 World Championships Practice Reports

Jason🤩

Marked the axel; very basic run thru but quality. JLB talked about his boot issues.. how Jason wondered if he was too old to do axels now but feels confident with equipment change. JL said he has noticed a definite change in the jump now since last Olympics
 
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Men Group 5
22 Hyungyeom KIM KOR - Skating to John Miles Music and not fully warmed up but attempting the quads and axels - both under. Gets the 3Lz_3T. JLB wants more expression from the whole body.
23 Andrew TORGASHEV USA - L'Enfer #2 right in front of JW & JLB and ignoring them. Not fully warmed up for quad, but gorgeous axel. Modern, sharp, moves that breathe says JLB. This program won choreo of the year from PSGA last year.
24 Vladimir SAMOILOV POL - Feast or famine with Vladimir with crazy speed and a huge, high jump that would clear a fiat says JLB. More consistent says JW this year. This program is really fun and will get the crowd. Giving us the Fat Boy Slim funk - big skating. Nicely restrained for him - watch the walls in the SP please.
25 Jason BROWN USA - Jason dressed for Tarzan walks through opening jumps. JLB likes the chant with his skating. JW says his axel has renewed pop seen that he has not seen since the Olympic season. The catchfoot spin is unlike anyone elses. Both say he is so cool.
26 Vladimir LITVINTSEV AZE - Loud crossovers for him - but it works for the jumps says JLB. Very fast, powerfully carries the speed into the jumps. Once the jumps are done, the speed slows a bit they both say. Twizzle stumble. He reminds me a bit of Vladimir Kotin for old time fans. He is either wincing or winded.
27 Adam HAGARA SVK - Adam has a edge wiggle on his lutz. Very steady runthough. - very even program that build nicely with subtle energy.

JLB - Don't get too caught up in who does what - acknowledge it and use it to your advantage and move on. Raf is here for Torgs and others. Brandon Frazier is also here for Andrew - they call BF Golden Retriever energy. Again more discussion of locking in your energy from yesterday.

These guys are pushing all the time in these later groups say both JW & JLB.
 
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Resurface
Men Group 6

28 Deniss VASILJEVS LAT - JW not sure about his practices - a bit slow with less snap in rotation. Lots of marking as he is not warmed up yet in his sweats. Pops of power are cool and an interesting stop.
29 Daniel GRASSL ITA - Reminds both of Tomas Verner in his shaggy hair days - Josef Sabovcik for me. Very open choreo with a very nice attitude glide - effective shape. You can see his mental rehearsal of the elements without expending energy.
30 Junhwan CHA KOR - Amazing skating quality tha has JLB saying how did you do that. Imagine #2 brings us a really good 4Sal after days of pops. 3Lz /3Lo nailed and almost slips. He hasan amazing way to will the movements he wants. Many multidirectional moves that are so tough in the footwork - so musical. Loving the half split after a slide in the cluster.
31 Nika EGADZE GEO - L'Enfer #3 goes for the 4S-combo with stepout. His jumps are somewhat unpredictable. Clean 4T. Rather restrained runthrough so far - JW says he's made improvements with nice butterfly and footwork. Better attention to detail.
32 Kevin AYMOZ FRA - Lavender shirt for Kevin. Superb understanding of music and matching skating to it. Marking his jumps here. He has done clean 4Sal this week and doesn't have one planned for programs. He needs clean, solid skating this week.
33 Nikolaj MEMOLA ITA - One tall drink of water skating to Flamenco. Also practicing quads that are not in his programs that may show up if he feels good. Kinda off all practice except for 3A. Great development of his skating this year.

I am mostly retyping JW & JLB remarks while watching- my own which are not worth as much.

Exciting group because you can see any of these men on the podium - risk/reward. Most not doing much of jumps - taking it lighter.
 
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Men Group 7
34 Lukas BRITSCHGI SUI - Skating his program, but marking the jumps due to skating early. Exquisite, intricate choreography in a statement program.
35 Mikhail SHAIDOROV KAZ - A nice distance 3axel, hop lunge into 4T is very cool. Conserving a lot of energy.
36 Shun SATO JPN - Shun takes stroking classes from JLB and learns a lot. He is fun to work with. Great 4T - very smooth also 3A. Good practices here for him. JLB wants more facially from him as a next step.
37 Adam SIAO HIM FA FRA - A more settled practice for Adam today marking his jumps while doing lilting movement to this emotional music. Both JLB & JW are getting an Adam version of Patrick Chan from Adam today. They call the program a work of art. The backflip is replaced by a special knee slide. I think he intends this program as his tribute to the plane crash victims.
38 Ilia MALININ USA - Ilia has gold bootlaces. I like the avant-garde edge leans. Both see how much he loves this music. Marking his jumps and conserving energy while mentally rehearsing them. JLB likes his attention to detail. Solid jumps on practice. Nice blues choctaw.
39 Yuma KAGIYAMA JPN - Rough first practices for Yuma have receded and he looks good now says JW. His movements are elegant and float. Effortless power from a guy of short stature.

Ilia doing the power pulls with arms behind the back - not for beginners if you like your teeth. You should not need your arms to skate, but to enhance them. Turns are all lower body positioning and leaning.

Axel jumps without your arms - crossed in front or helicopter doubles with arms completely to the side not pulling in letting hips and ankles get the rotation.
 
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Jean-Luc Baker with Kaitlyn Hawayek

Ice Dance RD or FD - Practice Rink
Group 1

1 Samantha RITTER / Daniel BRYKALOV AZE - She is from Buffalo, NY
2 Junfei REN / Jianing XING CHN - No costumes, they are saving their legs, great rotational lift
3 Katarina DELCAMP / Berk AKALIN TUR - No costumes, hobbies animal rescue, hard transitions, work on more presence & posture and connection together
4 Chelsea VERHAEGH / Sherim VAN GEFFEN NED - First NED team to compete since 1984. Twizzle bobbles, very nice entry into nice rotational lift. Nice flipover to end the program.

Early morning practice, per-competition practice - taking your space, energy and emotions and projecting it out. JLB loved RD practice and they were terrified during FD practice.

Race to finish to get everything in when 5 teams were on the ice. Warm-up very quickly.
20 teams will qualify and 16 teams will not make the cut. 70 or higher likely cut-off score.

They both loved midline step and choreo seq to relate and not be in hold.

JLB wants a compete 3 patterns to get your placement in RD GOE based, none of the key points - KH never gonna happen.
 
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Ice Dance RD or FD - Practice Rink
Group 2

5 Zoe LARSON / Andrii KAPRAN UKR - Andrii looks very posh with filly cuffs that JLB loves. They are both in character. Very subtle and very Austin Powers. Both are big fans. Lots of cuts of music , but it works.
6 Maria Sofia PUCHEROVA / Nikita LYSAK SVK - Fast rhythm to Love to Love You - one of their favorite programs with Midnight Blues. Cadence makes it hard to get turns clean. Really dancey for this team and very fun.
7 Angelina KUDRYAVTSEVA / Ilia KARANKEVICH CYP -They have attack and performance better than the other teams of this group. Very nice edge quality in and out of their turns. KH really like them. Choreo step needs more performance.
8 Milla Ruud REITAN / Nikolaj MAJOROV SWE - JLB loves Nikolaj. Hobby is dog whisperer. They look young but have really nice qualities. Really nice rocker. KH wants more attention to timing in PST. Really nice skating skill to them.

They love music on the practice to help you get into your legs and get you out of your head.
You can control your turns, but not what the judges like. Work on footwork can really pay off. Level 4 footwork is the unicorn.

When they were scared, they hugged and JLB would sing. JLB would scream loudly to release tension.
 
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Ice Dance RD or FD - Practice Rink
Warm-up Group 3

9 Sofiia DOVHAL / Wiktor KULESZA POL - Nice kickover her head. KH wants more ice coverage and run of edge.
10 Utana YOSHIDA / Masaya MORITA JPN - JLB loves their spread eagle, JLB loves team JPN for its skating quality. KH loves her polka dots. Hobbies - visitng restaurants. Very nice mohawk and rocker. Review on the counter. Very clear weight transfer. Her expression is so good and she uses her eyes to play to all sides of the arena.
11 Victoria MANNI / Carlo ROETHLISBERGER ITA - JLB loves how they work together but step sequence was just skated through. He does love boogie shoes though. Dynamic ending for them. They need more connection. Carlo is nicely animated.
12 Mariia IGNATEVA / Danijil Leonyidovics SZEMKO HUN - JLB says they get far apart at times making it hard to come back together. She needs to make her foot catches to make free. They both want more connection between them and not just emote on your own. Their mentors says you need to see the stem and the rose. She is trying to connect with him but not him with her. Lots of great dynamic steps but not teamwork.

Kaitlin loves coaching so does JLB.
When warm-up goes badly, to reset KH said close what you did, what did I learn, what do I leave behind, how do I move forward. JLB compliments her as one of the most fierce compeititors.

Wants to see Paso change of edge from anyone.
JLB most excited to see in RD - movement in standings depends on who keeps their cool. He roots for his countrymen. Groupings are going to be interesting. KH wants to see personal take on social dance.
 
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Ice Dance RD or FD - Practice Rink
Warm-up Group 4

13 Carolane SOUCISSE / Shane FIRUS IRL - Hard to dance footwork and not be too careful on step sequence. Risky approach can cause you can go in and out of dance to execute turns. She concentrates on turns while he dances turns looking a bit mismatched. More knee action getting into their flow, not have shoulders in opposition.
14 Gina ZEHNDER / Beda Leon SIEBER SUI - Barbie and Ken program. Some really cool tricks. Interpreting the stiffness of the dolls. Nice lightness to their skating. They need to close up the distance between their holds. They need to go into connection with this music. Fun part to let's twist. He needs to give more.
15 Alicia FABBRI / Paul AYER CAN - Very solid twizzles - spacing, clarity and power are really good. They need to stay connected. Alicia does this style very well.
16 Elizabeth TKACHENKO / Alexei KILIAKOV ISR - Younger team just needs time and maturity. They are executing, not fully connected and performing together. He had a recent injury and is recovered

Q- How scary to go under partners leg KH/JLB - they did not do them usually because of their similar heights

The ice is lit and the audience is not - giving a theatre feel. You feel like a goldfish out there.
 
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Good morning, @labgoat! Thank you for your amazing practice recaps - I'm watching the dance practice as well but I'm trying to save my fingers for PBPs today, I was in pain Wednesday evening after doing practice recaps plus PBPs for two events :LOL:.
Thank you for your hard work on the other events. I love your comments, but also understand when you are done - you are done. The comments are most from KH & JLB rather than my amateurish ones. I try to identify which is which. I like to put the suggestions so if the teams are on our site they can see comments they otherwise might not be able to see.
 
Ice Dance RD or FD - Practice Rink
Warm-up Group 5

17 Phebe BEKKER / James HERNANDEZ GBR - Nickname PB & James. JLB loves his hair flow and KH loves their knee action. Very close on the steps. JLB dancing to their music. They make a heart with their arms. Look for brackets in Rt upper corner as it is the hardest turn to get the levels on. JLB says most teams will put this turn here.
18 Holly HARRIS / Jason CHAN AUS - Holly is the queen of costuming. First twizzles done well but a bit far apart. Midline step executed, performance is evolving and little moments of instability - they say they are being very picky. Choreo steps close to wall to make sure you get full credit. Try not to scratch on choreo so you don't get negative GOE.
19 Jennifer JANSE VAN RENSBURG / Benjamin STEFFAN GER - Hobbies JJVR jumping out of planes, BS - watching birds. JLB wants more dancing to Boogie Shoes and less skating to set the tone. KH - First steps are the appetizer to the meal. Last then seconds are dessert.
20 Katerina MRAZKOVA / Daniel MRAZEK CZE - So much power, give us some ebbs and flows. He has great posture. Love the twizzle entry. Speed on the submarine section. Lots of music cuts here.
21 Diana DAVIS / Gleb SMOLKIN GEO - They have really nice run of edge and may have to watch for the boards in the future. They slowed down for midline step to be cleaner on turns. JLB says they perform very well but wants more connection between them particularly from him to her. Bracket in corner again. Stellar intricate, powerful lifts.

They do miss the old school elements of pattern dance. They miss the short dance. It is hard to compare different dance styles - not a direct event. I agree - #bring back the short dance.
 
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Ice Dance RD or FD - Practice Rink
Warm-up Group 6

22 Yuka ORIHARA / Juho PIRINEN FIN - Hobbies learning cat language. First twizzles almost were checking too much. Great outword expression but they need more expression and play with each other.
23 Olivia SMART / Tim DIECK ESP - Solid twizzles - should be closer. Being intentional with step sequence. Olivia really commits to performance. Tim has learned to trust himself and who he is and is taking on more of the lead. Great edge quality.
24 Natalie TASCHLEROVA / Filip TASCHLER CZE - They are so fast. JLB said they made him feel slow. They wish change of edge was bigger and deeper. Need to finish element faster than you start. Nice twizzles. Love the remix a lot. Last choreo had a lot of finger pointing to fill beats.
25 Hannah LIM / Ye QUAN KOR - Charismatic and character driven skating with real intention - Hannah is so good and so natural. Ye is so strong and supportive with his frame. She uses her eyes so well. Smart idea to change their RD.
26 Loicia DEMOUGEOT / Theo LE MERCIER FRA - They are not showing much. Not connected when they are not skating. They have very solid mid line. Dual cartwheels. Lots of finger points.

JLB thinks they are rewarding too much athleticism. Need to reward proper ice dance holds and reward less tricks. They both agree - more tracking and intricacy that is different from other disciplines. Don't lose the essence of ice dancing skating.
 
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