Figure Skating in Cyprus

[CaroLiza_fan]

For those of you who have been following skating in Cyprus for a long time, you will probably remember Basque skater Janire IDIAKEZ.

Janire was based in Cyprus when her Dad was managing the AEK Larnaca football team. She had the same coach as Daniella Vanessa Ipsarides and Laura Farran, Pavel Chernousov, and he would frequently enter the three of them into the same events. And that included the 2017 and 2018 Cyprus Championships, where Janire competed as a guest skater in the Basic Novice A competition (which would nowadays just be called "Basic Novice").

• In 2017, her score would have put her 3rd position overall, 3.38 points behind her Skate Cyprus team-mate Laura Farran, who was in 2nd position.
• In 2018, her score would have put her in 4th position overall, just 1.66 points behind 3rd position (and 3.36 points behind Laura, who was again in 2nd position).

Well, I came across Janire for the first time in 5 years this week, competing in Junior Ladies at the Spanish Championships. On Friday, she finished 14th out of 19 in the SP, with a score of 31.97.

Janire will be doing her Free Skate today (Sunday). Unfortunately, it looks like the livestreams are not getting archived. So, if anybody wants to see what she is like now, you'll have to watch LIVE. Here are the details:

The Junior Ladies FS is due to start at 16:00:00 CET (15:00:00 GMT / 17:00:00 EET). So 7 hours from now.

Janire will be the 6th skater to start. So, second skater in Group 2.

The Group 2 Warm-Up is due to start at 16:26:40 CET (15:26:40 GMT / 17:26:40 EET). So 7h 26m from now.

Janire is due to start at 16:38:20 CET (15:38:20 GMT / 17:38:20 EET). So 7h 38m from now.

But, those times may change if somebody that is due on before her withdraws.

More information in the event thread:
https://www.goldenskate.com/forum/threads/97155

Hope this helps

ALL THE BEST JANIRE!!!

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

I am starting to get worried that the number of withdrawals in recent weeks may be a sign that things are not well within the Cypriot team.

...

Now, I don't know how much funding the CSF is getting. And I don't know if they are getting less this season compared to the past few seasons. But, it is starting to look like the money they have for this season is not able to sustain a full season of international competitions.

I really hope this is not the case. I hope it is just a weird coincidence that the entire team bar one withdrew from their competitions in the past couple of weeks. Because Cyprus has a very good line-up of promising young skaters in their team. They have a very good skater in every level from Senior down to Cubs (I havn't been able to find out anything about Samsonova, so I don't yet know what she is like). And they deserve to be able to compete in a full season.

But if this is what is going on, it is really bad news for Marilena in particular, as she has not yet competed this season. And it would be the nightmare scenario to be going into Euros with no previous competitions this season under your belt. That is assuming that Euros and Worlds are still on the cards.

So, let's hope this is just the usual story of me reading too much into things.

CaroLiza_fan

My concerns are deepening.

The Provisional Entry Lists for the European Championships were released yesterday, and Cyprus does not appear in any category.

Admittedly, Cyprus couldn't have entered the Ice Dance because, even if Angelina wasn't recovering from injury, she and Ilia have not achieved the Minimum TES for Europeans in either segment. But, there is nothing obvious stopping Cyprus from entering the Ladies Singles.

Although she has not yet competed this season, Marilena does still have the TES Minimums for Europeans, and for Senior Worlds for that matter. So that is not an issue.

Incidentally, Stefania has also achieved the TES Minimums required for Europeans. But because Senior skaters now have to be 16 on 1st July 2023, she is too young to compete (she would have been age eligible this season under the old rules). So, she would not have been an option if Marilena was not available.

On 3rd December, Marilena posted a video of herself on the ice to mark World Skating Day:

https://www.instagram.com/lena.mariki/reel/C0ZL8BCxDyw/

So, assuming that it was a recent video and not something she had lying around, that shows that she is back on the ice. And, hence, available.

All this is leading me to believe even more that there are issues at a higher level which has led to all the skaters in the team not being able to compete at the moment.

And I really hope that whatever is going on can be resolved soon. Because, as I said in my previous post, this is a very good and promising line-up of skaters, and they deserve to be able to show the world just what they are capable of.

CaroLiza_fan

 

[skatingguy]

Incidentally, Stefania has also achieved the TES Minimums required for Europeans. But because Senior skaters now have to be 16 on 1st July 2023, she is too young to compete (she would have been age eligible this season under the old rules). So, she would not have been an option if Marilena was not available.

She doesn't have the minimums for Europeans if she hasn't competed in a senior event.

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

She doesn't have the minimums for Europeans if she hasn't competed in a senior event.

I know. I was purely talking about the numbers.

I actually originally wrote "Stefania has also achieved the Minimum TES score", but then changed it because I realised that I had efectively written "Technical Elements Score score". And I hate it when people make that mistake.

But, it is very difficult to re-word it in a way that makes it clear what I was saying without repeating the word "score". And that was the best I could come up with.

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Apologies that I didn't get updating you sooner on how Basque skater Janire IDIAKEZ, who used to be based in Cyprus, got on in the Free Skate at the Spanish Championships. The Entries / Results page stopped working on Sunday morning (it would attempt to load for ages, and then time out), and only started working again yesterday.

Janire finished 12th out of 19 in the FS, with a score of 58.13. This meant that she climbed up to 13th position overall, with a score of 90.10.

She had a couple of falls, and when she was tiring towards the end she popped a jump. But, the rest of it was lovely.

Her Club de Hielo Txuri-Berri team-mate, Nahia OLAIZOLA, won the Junior Ladies title, and it was lovely seeing Janire and some other team members celebrating with her after the results were announced.

After not seeing her for so long, it was great to see Janire again. And I hope to see her again soon. Now that I know where she is skating, I will be keping an eye out for her in the future.

ALL THE BEST FOR THE REST OF THE SEASON, JANIRE!!!

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Before the European Championships take over, I just wanted to do a post to bring you up to date with the latest news about the CYpriot skaters.

Firstly, last night I posted an update about Marilena in her own Fan Fest thread. You can read it here:

https://www.goldenskate.com/forum/posts/3230793

Secondly, Stefania was finally back in action last week at Skate Helena, and came back home with a Silver Medal!!!



Not a bad result to take in what is surely her last competition before the Youth Olympics.

And on that note, there was an interview with Stefania today on the Limassol based Action In Sports website. For more information, along with the link, see this post in her own Fan Fest thread:

https://www.goldenskate.com/forum/posts/3231304

Oliviia's good run this season has also attracted the attention of Action In Sports. Here is an article they did about her in December:

https://www.actioninsports.com/oliv...-antiprosopevei-tin-kypro-me-diethneis-nikes/

It's in Greek, but there is a button to translate the page into English (or Hebrew, or Russian, or Ukrainian).

And I found out some interesting things about her. She was born in Russia, but has been living in Cyprus since she was 2½. She started skating when she was 3½ at the rink at MyMall, so she has come up through the Cypriot system.

You know how at the start of the season I kept referring back to her having competed at the Cyprus Championships back in 2019. Well, I recently found out on her Instagram page that this was actually her very first competition, and it was just before she turned 6!

And now she is a really exciting prospect.

Finally, I want to end with something else I found out recently. It is well known that the girl that finished third at Advanced Novice level in the British Championships, Adriana Lagman, has Filipina heritage. But, I was recently told that she also has Cypriot heritage.

I watched her British Championships FS (thank you to our very own @La Rhumba for uploading the video), and she looks good.

So, there is another skater for us to keep our eye out for.

CaroLiza_fan

 

[La Rhumba]

Before the European Championships take over, I just wanted to do a post to bring you up to date with the latest news about the CYpriot skaters.

Firstly, last night I posted an update about Marilena in her own Fan Fest thread. You can read it here:

https://www.goldenskate.com/forum/posts/3230793

Secondly, Stefania was finally back in action last week at Skate Helena, and came back home with a Silver Medal!!!



Not a bad result to take in what is surely her last competition before the Youth Olympics.

And on that note, there was an interview with Stefania today on the Limassol based Action In Sports website. For more information, along with the link, see this post in her own Fan Fest thread:

https://www.goldenskate.com/forum/posts/3231304

Oliviia's good run this season has also attracted the attention of Action In Sports. Here is an article they did about her in December:

https://www.actioninsports.com/oliv...-antiprosopevei-tin-kypro-me-diethneis-nikes/

It's in Greek, but there is a button to translate the page into English (or Hebrew, or Russian, or Ukrainian).

And I found out some interesting things about her. She was born in Russia, but has been living in Cyprus since she was 2½. She started skating when she was 3½ at the rink at MyMall, so she has come up through the Cypriot system.

You know how at the start of the season I kept referring back to her having competed at the Cyprus Championships back in 2019. Well, I recently found out on her Instagram page that this was actually her very first competition, and it was just before she turned 6!

And now she is a really exciting prospect.

Finally, I want to end with something else I found out recently. It is well known that the girl that finished third at Advanced Novice level in the British Championships, Adriana Lagman, has Filipina heritage. But, I was recently told that she also has Cypriot heritage.

I watched her British Championships FS (thank you to our very own @La Rhumba for uploading the video), and she looks good.

So, there is another skater for us to keep our eye out for.

CaroLiza_fan

Thank you for the updates and links. Great news about Stefania!

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

This is a real bittersweet post to put up.

First, the bad news. I am afraid that Stefania withdrew from the Youth Olympic Games.

I'm really heartbroken for her. These Youth Olympics meant so much to her.

That said, this is not actually the end of Cyprus having a presence in the figure skating in Gangneung. Because one of the commentators we have been listening to, Scottish Alpine Skier Graham Bell, was actually born in Akrotiri when his Dad was stationed there.

Moving on, and the good news is that both Varvara (Advanced Novice) and Oliviia (Basic Novice III) are entered for the Sofia Trophy this coming week. Varvara will do her SP on Wednesday evening and her FS on Thursday evening; while Oliviia will do her FS first thing on Thursday morning.

It will be so good to have them in action again. Apart from anything else, it will help to ease the diappointment about Stefania.

Sending my best wishes to all three girls

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

After Varvara returned yesterday, it is Oliviia's turn to be back in action today at the Sofia Trophy in Bulgaria.

The Basic Novice Ladies FS is due to start this morning at 09:00:00 EET (07:00:00 GMT / 10:00:00 MSK). So 1 hour from now.

Oliviia will be the 25th skater to start. So, seventh and antepenultimate skater to go in Group 3 (and seventh skater after the resurfacing).

The Group 3 Warm-Up is due to start at 10:45:00 EET (08:45:00 GMT / 11:45:00 MSK). So 2h 45m from now.

Oliviia is due to start at 11:18:00 EET (09:18:00 GMT / 12:18:00 MSK). So 3h 18m from now.

But, those times may change if somebody that is due on before her withdraws.

More information in the event thread:
https://www.goldenskate.com/forum/threads/95824

Hope this helps

ALL THE BEST OLIVIIA!!!

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

OLIVIIA WON THE GOLD MEDAL!!!



Sofia Trophy Basic Novice III Ladies FS: Results; Protocols
Sofia Trophy Basic Novice III Ladies: Results

Oliviia finished 1st out of 34 in the FS and overall, with a score of 47.94.

Unfortunately I was not able to watch the Sofia Trophy.

Looking at the protocols, there was only one negative number. And that was a -1 from Judge 2 for her second element. Yes, you guessed it, the second of her Double Axels. But, it went down better with the Judges this time. Judge 1 gave it +1; while Judge 3 gave it 0. It also got neutral GOE.

Her Double Salchow-Double Toe combination also got neutral GOE. In fact, everything about it was neutral.

Everything else got positive GOE. The Double Lutz-Double Loop combination that she did at the end of her programme got 0 from Judge 2; +1 from Judge 3; and +2 from Judge 1. It also got +0.21 in GOE and, because it had the highest Base Value, this made it the highest scoring element of the programme.

As for what went down best with the officials, there was not much between the fifth and sixth elements, the Step Sequence and the Change Foot Combination Spin. Both got exactly the same Judges marks of +1 from Judge 3; and +2 from the other two Judges. These were the best Judges marks of the programme. The Step Sequence got the highest GOE of the programme at+0.43, while the Change Foot Combination Spin got the second highest GOE of the programme at +0.42.

Interestingly, Oliviia's programme had the joint highest total Base Value of all the Basic Novice skaters, along with the Croatian girl that finished two places behind her in 3rd. But the Croatian skater had issues with both of her combination jumps.

Oliviia finished the Free Skate 2.26 points ahead of 2nd position, and 3.44 points ahead of 3rd position.

I had a look at the Instagram account for Oliviia's mother, and she had put up a photo of the podium. And I was a bit confused by the first sentence of the caption:

"Today my girl defeated 80 competitors"

My initial reaction was "Hang on, I know it was a big field, but it wasn't that big!" I started to wonder if Google had messed up the translation. Then a thought came into my head, and I opened the results tables of all three Basic Novice competitions. When you take them all together, there were 81 skaters, and Oliviia had the highest score of all of them.

Bearing in mind that Oliviia was in the youngest of the Basic Novice divisions, this is a remarkable achievement.

And what makes it even more remarkable is what her mother wrote at the end of the caption. They have been back in Cyprus for the past two months, so in that time Oliviia has only been training on the small rink at MyMall.

When Cyprus has home-grown skaters of this quality coming through, they really need to build a full size rink so that the skaters can get the type of training that they need without having to go overseas.

WELL DONE OLIVIIA!!!

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Just to let you know that, ahead of her Junior level international debut at the Triglav Trophy in Jesenice, Slovenia, today, I have created a separate Fan Fest thread for Janire Idiakez, the Basque skater that used to be based in Cyprus.

https://www.goldenskate.com/forum/threads/98173

She is due to do her Short Programme at 12:15:00 CEST (10:15:00 GMT / 11:15:00 BST / 13:15:00 EEST). So 5 hours from now.

ALL THE BEST JANIRE!!!

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

With the ISU International Adult Competition starting today, I have now posted full profiles for Liubov SAVINOVSKAYA and Natalia NOVOSELOVA STYLIANOU at the start of this thread:

Liubov SAVINOVSKAYA
https://www.goldenskate.com/forum/posts/3284774

Natalia NOVOSELOVA STYLIANOU
https://www.goldenskate.com/forum/posts/3284775

Unfortunately, Natalia is not competing in Oberstdorf this year. But Liubov is.

According to the Provisional Time Schedule PDF that was published just over 4 weeks ago, Liubov will be doing her Artistic Free Skate today, and her Free Skate on Tuesday. However, I do not have a final time schedule. So, I cannot give you a definite start time for the Silver III Ladies Artistic FS, or a start time for Liubov. All I can say is:

The Provisional schedule estimated that the Silver III Ladies Artistic FS would start at approximately 17:40 CEST (15:40 GMT / 16:40 BST / 18:40 MSK). So 6h 30m from now.

Liubov will be the 19th skater to start. So, sixth and penultimate skater to go in Group 4 (and penultimate skater to go in the competition).

More information in the event thread:
https://www.goldenskate.com/forum/threads/95854

ALL THE BEST LIUBOV!!!

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

ISU International Adult Competition Silver III Ladies Artistic FS: Results; Protocols
ISU International Adult Competition Silver III Ladies Artistic: Results

No video uploaded yet

Liubov finished 2nd out of 20 in the Artistic FS, with a score of 13.17.

Here is what I wrote in the competition thread at the time:

I was hoping that she would keep the same Artistic FS programme as last season. "Zorba" always goes down well!

Unfortunately, her hand also went down during a choreographic slide. But, otherwise, I didn't spot any issues.

You could see she was enjoing herself out there.

Big crowd with her. Don't know who they all are. One was wearing a French team jacket, so probably friends she has made on the competition circuit.

She goes into 2nd position.

WELL DONE LIUBOV

CaroLiza_fan​

Liubov finished the Artistic Free Skate 0.08 points behind 1st position, Nataliia GONCHAROVA (UKR), and 0.17 points ahead of 3rd position, Elizabeth KOSHKA (CAN). The three of them are at the top of a group where 4 skaters are covered by 0.58 points, which is completed by Katarzyna KONOPACKA (POL) in 4th position, 0.50 points behind Liubov.

I know that these Artistic FS competitions do tend to be close because they are based purely on the Programme Component Score. Hey, the whole field in this competition was covered by just 4.00 points. But, Liubov was so close to winning the Artistic FS title at this event for the second time. (The previous time she won it was in 2018).

The question now is: after winning the title in the normal Free Skate for the first time last season, will she retain it?

I hope so!

WELL DONE LIUBOV!!!

---

According to the Provisional Time Schedule PDF that was published just over 4 weeks ago, Liubov will be doing her Free Skate today. However, I do not have a final time schedule. So, I cannot give you a definite start time for the Silver III Ladies FS, or a start time for Liubov. All I can say is:

The Provisional schedule estimated that the Silver III Ladies FS would start at approximately 14:00 CEST (12:00 GMT / 13:00 BST / 15:00 MSK). So 6 hours from now.

Liubov will be the 8th skater to start. So, third and middle skater to go in Group 2.

More information in the event thread:
https://www.goldenskate.com/forum/threads/95854

ALL THE BEST LIUBOV!!!

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

ISU International Adult Competition Silver III Ladies FS: Results; Protocols
ISU International Adult Competition Silver III Ladies: Results

No video uploaded yet

Liubov finished 5th out of 22 in the FS, with a score of 31.28.

Here is what I wrote in the competition thread at the time:

Very pale blue dress. It's not far off being able to blend in with the ice.

Lovely spins in the early stages of the programme.

Thought she was going to get her legs tangled in her first combination jump. But she made it through it.

Individual jump went better.

Sit spin lovely.

No major issues with the next few elements.

And finishes with a hydroblade.

I'm nearly sure I've seen that guy in the grey Cyprus hoodie somewhere before. Or else he looks like somebody.

She goes into 2nd position.

Round of applause from everybody sitting in the results area. Including Liubov!

WELL DONE LIUBOV!!!

CaroLiza_fan​

Liubov finished the Free Skate 1.28 points behind 4th position, Nilüfer ERDEBIL (CAN), and 0.18 points ahead of 6th position, Cathy LYND (CAN). Again, like in the Artistic FS, the whole field was very close, with the only gap greater than 2 points being between the skaters in penultimate and last positions. So, if we instead use a gap of greater than 1 point denoting groups, then Liubov and Cathy were in a group together. But, they were both still less than 3.30 points behind the winner. Galiya KLINKOVA (DEU) in 1st position was just 3.11 points ahead of Liubov.

Although she did not take away any Gold Medals this year, Liubov should be pleased with how close her scores were to the winner in both of her competitions. Plus, she is taking home a Silver Medal in the Artistic FS

WELL DONE LIUBOV!!!

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

I am so sorry. When checking her Rink Results bio for a post in another thread over the weekend, I discovered that since the Sofia Trophy in February, Oliviia has done four competitions across three events in the second half of April / first half of May!

And that included making her debut at Advanced Novice level.

Probably the best approach to take is to just have this post summarise all of them.


Juna Skate Open: 19–21 April 2024

Juna Skate Open Basic Novice Ladies FS: Results; Protocols
Juna Skate Open Basic Novice Ladies: Results

Oliviia finished 1st out of 14 in the FS and overall, with a score of 41.27.

Oliviia finished the Free Skate 3.06 points ahead of 2nd position, and 4.50 points ahead of 3rd position.

WELL DONE OLIVIIA!!!


Volvo Open Cup: 03–05 May 2024

Volvo Open Cup Basic Novice 2010-2012 Ladies FS: Results; Protocols
Volvo Open Cup Basic Novice 2010-2012 Ladies: Results

Oliviia finished 1st out of 9 in the FS and overall, with a score of 43.33.

Oliviia finished the Free Skate 2.46 points ahead of 2nd position, and 4.64 points ahead of 3rd position.

WELL DONE OLIVIIA!!!


Tallinn Trophy Kids: 10–12 May 2024

Tallinn Trophy Kids Basic Novice Ladies FS: Results; Protocols
Tallinn Trophy Kids Basic Novice Ladies: Results

Oliviia finished 1st out of 19 in the FS and overall, with a score of 45.63.

Oliviia finished the Free Skate 7.05 points ahead of 2nd position, and 7.74 points ahead of 3rd position.

WELL DONE OLIVIIA!!!


Tallinn Trophy Kids Advanced Novice 2011-2012 Ladies SP: Results; Protocols

Oliviia finished 2nd out of 19 in the SP, with a score of 35.29.

Oliviia finished the Free Skate 10.35 points behind 1st position, and 7.74 points ahead of 3rd position.

WELL DONE OLIVIIA!!!


Tallinn Trophy Kids Advanced Novice 2011-2012 Ladies FS: Results; Protocols
Tallinn Trophy Kids Basic Novice Ladies: Results

Oliviia finished 2nd out of 13 in the FS, with a score of 64.61. This meant that she remained in 2nd position overall, with a score of 99.90.

Oliviia finished the Free Skate 21.08 points behind 1st position, and 4.00 points ahead of 3rd position.

Overall, Oliviia finished 31.43 points behind 1st position, and 10.84 points ahead of 2nd position.

WELL DONE OLIVIIA!!!


I'm guessing that these competitions were to build up towards the Cyprus Championships. But, I have no idea when this year's Nationals are, because the CSF website hasn't been updated since before last year's Nationals.

Sorry again that I missed that these competitions were happening.

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

The Announcement for the 2024 Junior GP Series has been released, and here are the slots that have been allocated to Cyprus:

Category​	Entry Criteria​	Rd. 1: LAT​	Rd. 2: CZE​	Rd. 3: THA​	Rd. 4: TUR​	Rd. 5: POL​	Rd. 6: SVN​	Rd. 7: CHN​
Ladies	1 entry in 2 events	​	CYP​	​	CYP​	​	​	​
Men	1 entry in 2 events	​	CYP​	​	CYP​	​	​	​
Pairs	1 entry in 3 events	​	CYP​	​	CYP​	CYP​	​	​
Dance	1 entry in 6 events	CYP​	​	CYP​	CYP​	CYP​	CYP​	CYP​

Source: https://www.isu.org/docman-document...-66/33979-general-announcement-2024-25-1/file

No word yet as to how many of them will be used, or by whom.

In Ice Dance, Angelina and Ilia have already said that they are going to move up to Seniors this coming season. But, given their lack of competitive action in the past year, it might be a good idea to do a mixed season rather than doing a full season in Seniors. Start off by doing a couple of the early Junior GP's in the summer, and then start doing Challengers and other Senior B's come the autumn.

As for Ladies Singles, due to the changes in minimum ages, Stefania is still too young to move into Seniors. So, fitness permitting, we will undoubtedly be seeing her on the Junior GP circuit. However, she may not be the only skater representing Cyprus at the Junior GP's this season. Varvara is now old enough for Juniors. But, as I said a few weeks ago, given that she has only one season under her belt of doing competitions outside of Moscow, I think it would be wiser for Varvara to do another season in Advanced Novices to help build up her experience. Even if it does mean that she will be up against Oliviia (who, I think it is safe to say, is definitely moving up to Advanced Novices).

We might have a better idea of Varvara's plans if we knew which level she was entered in at the 2024 Cyprus Championships. But, I still can't find any information as to dates, never mind entries.

I do know from looking at their Facebook page that the Amathusia Club had a Season Finale show on Saturday 15th June. So presumably Nationals was sometime before that. (I also saw that there was some kind of event held on Saturday 23rd March. But from looking at the design of the certificates given out at it, it seems to have been an Amathusia Club event rather than a Cyprus Skating Federation event).

Anyway, I can't wait to see the skaters in action!!!

ALL THE BEST!!!

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

I've already posted this in her own thread, but there was a very interesting full-length interview with Stefania in today's Cyprus Mail:

https://cyprus-mail.com/2024/07/12/isnt-if-you-can-survive-in-figure-skating-you-can-do-anything/

Unfortunately, there are no hints about her plans for the Junior GP Series.

But the reason I am also cross-posting about it here is that she mentions that a company is building a rink in the Limassol region. She then adds "I would really like the project to be completed and the local authorities to support the initiative, if there was a skating rink in Cyprus I could live at home".

Back in 2016, the Amathusia club drew up plans to build a rink in Mouttagiaka. So, I wonder if this is a resurrection of that project. I wouldn't be surprised. If any of the clubs were to do it, they are the most likely. The Amathusia club does seem to have become the main club on the island.

Fingers crossed that the rink does open. If there was a decent sized rink, it would do wonders for the development of the sport on the island.

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

The Provisional Entry Lists for the second Junior Grand Prix, Czech Skate, are now up, and things are starting to become clearer.

Stefania is down to go to Ostrava, while Varvara is down as the substitute.

Here is a table listing all the Junior GP assignments that Cyprus has ever had in Ladies Singles skating:

Year​	First Junior GP​	Second Junior GP​
2024​	JGP2: Ostrava, CZE Stefania YAKOVLEVA (W/D) Varvara ABRAMKINA (S)	JGP4: Ankara, TUR Stefania YAKOVLEVA Varvara ABRAMKINA (S) Vasilisa BOGOMOLOVA (S)
2023​	JGP4: Osaka, JPN Stefania YAKOVLEVA (No Substitutes)	JGP6: Gdańsk, POL Stefania YAKOVLEVA (W/D) (No Substitutes)
2022​	JGP6: Gdańsk, POL Stefania YAKOVLEVA (No Substitutes)	JGP7: Egna / Neumarkt, ITA Stefania YAKOVLEVA (No Substitutes)
2021​	JGP2: Courchevel, FRA Stefania YAKOVLEVA (No Substitutes)	JGP6: Gdańsk, POL Stefania YAKOVLEVA (No Substitutes)
2020​	N/A	N/A
2019​	JGP1: Courchevel, FRA Giorgia Isabella SECHI Ekaterina LUNEVA (S)	JGP3: Riga, LAT Ekaterina LUNEVA Giorgia Isabella SECHI (S)
2018​	JGP3: Kaunas, LTU Eliana KALOGIROU (No Substitutes)	JGP5: Ostrava, CZE Giorgia Isabella SECHI Chryso GEORGIOU (S) Daniella Vanessa IPSARIDES (S) Eliana KALOGIROU (S)
2017​	JGP5: Zagreb, HRV Polina USTINOVA Daniella Vanessa IPSARIDES (S)	JGP7: Egna / Neumarkt, ITA Daniella Vanessa IPSARIDES Polina USTINOVA (S)
2016​	JGP4: Saransk, RUS Polina USTINOVA Daniella Vanessa IPSARIDES (S)	JGP5: Ljubljana, SVN Daniella Vanessa IPSARIDES Polina USTINOVA (S)
2015​	JGP2: Riga, LAT Polina USTINOVA (No Substitutes)	JGP5: Toruń, POL Polina USTINOVA (No Substitutes)
2014​	JGP2: Ljubljana, SVN Polina USTINOVA (No Substitutes)	JGP5: Tallinn, EST Polina USTINOVA (No Substitutes)
2013​	JGP3: Košice, SVK Kristina DUBROVSKAYA (No Substitutes)	N/A
2012​	JGP6: Zagreb, HRV Kristina DUBROVSKAYA (No Substitutes)	N/A

As you can see, in previous seasons when Cyprus had two Junior GP slots and more than one skater in the running, what they did was to split the assignments.

So I am guessing that this means Stefania and Varvara will be switched for the fourth round in Turkey, i.e Varvara will be down to go to Ankara, and Stefania will be down as the substitute.

But, this is just me speculating.

Whatever happens, I am looking forward to seeing the girls in action this season.

EDIT (17th August 2024): Varvara has replaced Stefania at Czech Skate. The table has been edited acccordingly.​

EDIT (19th August 2024): The skaters for Cyprus in the Provisional Entry List for the Junior GP in Ankara have been added to the table.​

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

It's 15th August again, the anniversary of Cyprus gaining independence from the UK in 1960. And, as usual, I am using this anniversary as an opportunity to do my annual refresh of the Fan Fests of the skaters from Cyprus.

This year, the refresh involves creating three new threads!

As Varvara Abramkina is moving up to Junior level, and is likely to be making her Junior GP debut in just over a month from now, I have moved the posts about her out into a new thread dedicated to her:

https://www.goldenskate.com/forum/threads/98885

The other two threads are actually for skaters who are no longer competing. Recently, I was looking at the protocols from the inaugural Cyprus Championships in 2013, and I discovered that, although the results tables state that Polina Ustinova was the only skater competing in Advanced Novice Ladies, there were actually two other skaters taking part, and they both finished ahead of her. Both of these skaters were Russian girls representing the Amathusia club.

The FS winner and overall runner-up, Polina Mozokhina, moved up to Junior Ladies straight after Nationals, and she represented Cyprus in international competitions during the 2013–14 season. After serving the 18 month embargo for switching countries, she started representing Austria in Senior Ladies in late 2015. After retiring, Polina has gone on to be a successful coach in that country, with students including the Ruis siblings. Here is her thread:

https://www.goldenskate.com/forum/threads/98886

The SP winner and overall champion, Anastasia Nosova, switched from ice skating to inline roller skating in 2016. And she has gone on to win all the Major championships in that branch of the sport. Here is her thread:

https://www.goldenskate.com/forum/threads/98887

Unfortunately, Nastya's thread was a frustrating one to compile, because looking for results and scores for roller skating competitions is like looking for hen's teeth. We often complain when Entries / Results pages for figure skating competitions get deleted. But it happens even more frequently in roller skating. And with roller skating being an even more obscure sport than ice skating, there are no fan-run databases like Rink Results or Skating Scores. Thankfully, Nastya and another member of her family have uploaded a good number of videos of her competition programmes to YouTube, so the videos were able to guide me.

Anyway, I hope you like all three new threads.

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

It has been a very interesting few days for the Junior GP assignments.

On Saturday, I found out that Stefania had pulled out of the second Junior GP, Czech Skate in Ostrava, and had been replaced by Varvara.

Then today, the assignments for the fourth Junior GP in Ankara, Turkey, were released. When it was Stefania down to go to Ostrava, and Varvara was the substitute, I was expecting them to swap roles for Ankara. So, when the changes were made at the weekend, I now expected Stefania to be down to go to Ankara, with Varvara as the substitute. And that is indeed what is happening.

HOWEVER, there is not just one substitute for Ankara - there are two! Varvara is the first substitute, but she is joined by Vasilisa BOGOMOLOVA as the second substitute. I have just done a bit of hunting around, and have found her on All Skaters:

All Skaters Bio: https://allskaters.info/vasilisa_bogomolova/

Vasilisa is 6 months younger than Varvara, and is also from Moscow. But, looking at her scores on All Skaters (and going into the Entries / Results page for the most recent competition, to check if it included an Elements segment, but it didn't), she tends to score a LOT higher than Varvara. In fact, nearly all of her overall scores last season were higher than Stefania's absolute PB for the overall score.

Of course, these were domestic competitions in Russia, and there is likely to have been score inflation going on for everybody. But even so. She sounds like a skater who could become a force to be reckoned with in the not too distant future.

You know, Cyprus is getting a very strong Ladies field across the levels, with Marilena, Stefania, Varvara, Vasilisa, and Olivia. Nationals is going to be the Hunger Games in the years to come!

Which is going to make it very exciting for us fans!

CaroLiza_fan