Dutch Figure Skating 2020-2021

[ladyjane]

Although a bit of a strange start of the Season without any JGPs, I am happy to start a new season's thread on Dutch Figure Skating. Here goes!

Lindsay van Zundert (who is only 15, looks a bit older than that, and would have started in the JGP originally) made a good senior debut at the Nebelhorn Trophy this weekend. She was 7th in the SP, 10th in the FS and 7th overall. Not bad at all.

 

[ladyjane]

It is with some regret I hereby announce that two Young Dutch ladies, Caya Scheepens and Kyarha van Tiel have decided to quit the sport. Oh, they will remain skating for fun, but no longer take part in international championships. In both cases it is all about injury - 18-year-old Caya struggling with ankle issues that cause a lot of pain even after intensive surgery and 20-yr-old Kyarha coping with issues on the foot as well as a persistent back problem. Both girls decided it was better for their bodies to stop. A pity, but understandable. I wish them all the best. It is a great pity talent has been lost.

 

[Harriet]

Such a shame. I remember Kyarha van Tiel in particular, I always liked her skating.

 

[ladyjane]

Thanks to some posts in the Cup of Tyrol thread I have just found out that there will be a Dutch team at the German NRW Winter Trophy from 25-28 November. Here are the Dutch senior riders who are planning to come:

Pairs:
Daria Danilova and Michel Tsiba

Men:
Thomas Kennes

ID
Chelsea Verhaegh/Sherim van Geffen

Ladies
Lindsay van Zundert

There is also a junior lady:
Dani Loonstra


Edit: Isabella Smit (junior) is no longer on the list of entrees
Edit 2: Hanna Jakucs /Alessio Galli are no longer on the list of entrees (one of them had tested positive for Covid).
Edit 3: Mikai van Ommeren (junior) has withdrawn because she could not leave Switzerland.
Niki Wories has withdrawn due to injury.

For all entrees:

NRW Autumn Trophy 2020

 

[ladyjane]

Lindsay van Zundert has made a coaching change. She has turned to Jorik Hendrickx who used to skate for Belgium, and to Carine Herrijgers (Joriks former coach). Joriks sister Loena is also coached by these two. I wish her a lot of success.

 

[ladyjane]

Not exactly about skating, but to my great surprise Jeroen Prins was Technical controller at the pairs competition of Rostelecom Cup this weekend. Surprising because the event had only Russian representatives as judges or technical panel members because of the pandemic. It's difficult to go to Russia at the moment due to Covid measures. I expect he'll have to go into quarantine at his return. Still, to me it was good to see him there. I hope he's alright as not everyone was sticking to the protocols, mask wearing (or not) being a case in point. I hope all others are alright too!

 

[gordana]

Well, actually totally Russian judging and tech panels were only for singles skating. At ice dance there was a Ukranian technical specialist Sergey Baranov. And in pairs event there was even not ex-USSR official.

 

[ladyjane]

Well, actually totally Russian judging and tech panels were only for singles skating. At ice dance there was a Ukranian technical specialist Sergey Baranov. And in pairs event there was even not ex-USSR official.

Missed that. Thanks.

 

[Winnie_20]

Apropos of nothing, the current Dutch figure skating commentator on public television (as opposed to Prins on Eurosport)
Hans van Zetten, has resigned.
This is due to some comments he made about young Dutch women gymnasts a decade ago.

Turncommentator Van Zetten vertrekt per direct bij de NOS

Het vertrek volgt op de ophef die is ontstaan na publicaties over zijn rol in een turnzaak uit 2011.

nos.nl

He did commentary for gymnastics and figure skating. (I may at some point in the past have done translations of some of his commentaries for skates of Japanese skaters at Worlds / Olympics).

And so it goes. Wonder who they will get to replace him...

 

[ladyjane]

Apropos of nothing, the current Dutch figure skating commentator on public television (as opposed to Prins on Eurosport)
Hans van Zetten, has resigned.
This is due to some comments he made about young Dutch women gymnasts a decade ago.

Turncommentator Van Zetten vertrekt per direct bij de NOS

Het vertrek volgt op de ophef die is ontstaan na publicaties over zijn rol in een turnzaak uit 2011.

nos.nl

He did commentary for gymnastics and figure skating. (I may at some point in the past have done translations of some of his commentaries for skates of Japanese skaters at Worlds / Olympics).

And so it goes. Wonder who they will get to replace him...

There wasn't (and isn't) much figure skating on Dutch public television anyway. At least he apologised sincerely for the comments about the gymasts.

 

[YoenNL]

Not exactly about skating, but to my great surprise Jeroen Prins was Technical controller at the pairs competition of Rostelecom Cup this weekend. Surprising because the event had only Russian representatives as judges or technical panel members because of the pandemic. It's difficult to go to Russia at the moment due to Covid measures. I expect he'll have to go into quarantine at his return. Still, to me it was good to see him there. I hope he's alright as not everyone was sticking to the protocols, mask wearing (or not) being a case in point. I hope all others are alright too!

They needed a Pairs TC as they don’t have one of their own (neither international nor ISU level). Everyone had to show a negative COVID test upon entering Russia plus every day your temperature was taken when entering the arena.

 

[Winnie_20]

They needed a Pairs TC as they don’t have one of their own (neither international nor ISU level).

Bit OT for this topic, but... Am I the only one who thinks this is really surprising / funny / not sure what to call it, considering the level of Pairs skating in Russia?

 

[ladyjane]

Bit OT for this topic, but... Am I the only one who thinks this is really surprising / funny / not sure what to call it, considering the level of Pairs skating in Russia?

No, it surprised me too. Funny even, that the Dutchies who have only one Pair at the EC/WC level (which is a historical occurrence in itself) have a Pairs TC at the ISU/International level and the Russians with their depth in the field do not. Back to the topic:

NRW Autumn Trophy starts tomorrow. On the roll the junior and senior pairs SP, the junior and senior ID SD and the junior ladies SP. Watch out for Danilova/Tsiba in senior pairs, Verhaegh/Van Geffen in senior ID and Dani Loonstra in junior ladies. Competition starts at 1 PM (Dutch time). There is a live stream (and hopefully a relive version as the competition takes place during working hours) available. There are 4 senior pairs in total (only 1 junior pair), 6 senior ID teams (8 junior couples) and 20 junior ladies.

 

[ladyjane]

Regrettably there were only 3 ID Couples taking part at the NRW Trophy in the end. The bright side of that is that all participants get a medal (a bit of a parallel with the ID competition at the NHK Trophy) The Short Dance has been skated, and Chelsea Verhaegh/Sherim van Geffen are in third place.

 

[ladyjane]

Of the four pairs competing in Dortmund unsurprisingly the 2 German Pairs are in the lead after the SP (and with only 0.05 points difference, so that should be an exciting final). Daria Danilova and Michel Tsiba are in 3rd.

However, I haven't seen any of it, even though I managed to find the time. The livestream did not work, because according to the information on screen it wasn't possible in my region. It was odd though because I could watch other sports taking place further away in kilometres just fine. So why there was a block for a competition app. 2h drive away is a mystery.

 

[Winnie_20]

I can unblock the stream with NordVPN on my Apple laptop, but it won’t unblock on my iPhone, even though it also runs NordVPN.
Anyway, it was interesting watching the Dutch pairs, not sure I had ever seen the Ice Dance pair before.

 

[ladyjane]

I saw the Dutch Ice Dance Team once before at the Challenge Cup in February. There was a special 'National' event for them (they were the only Ice Dance team). They've not been skating together very long, though they almost managed to get their minimum TES for Europeans in January.

 

[Winnie_20]

Exactly why, I didn’t stick around for the Ice Dance event. ;-)

 

[ladyjane]

Second day of NRW Trophy.
Dani Loonstra (junior lady) had a good skate today, she ended as 6th (while she was 11th after the SP).
Chelsea Verhaegh/Sherim van Geffen had the second best Free Dance, but it wasn't enough to get a higher rank. They ended as third.
Daria Danilova and Michel Tsiba ended third in Pairs, but in their case it was thanks to their SP, as they were fourth in the Free. I felt sorry for them. Michel was so devastated with the skate, blaming all that went wrong on himself (at least that's how it looked), and Daria tried to comfort him but he was just too angry with himself.

Men and ladies SP tomorrow with Thomas Kennes and Lindsay van Zundert.

 

[ladyjane]

Lindsay van Zundert 4th after the SP at NRW Trophy. 53.05 points.

It seems Thomas Kennes has withdrawn. Presumably he was ill. Don't know what he's suffering from.