Free Dance

[Lucky Star]

What a great night! I'm soooo happy for my favorites P/B and I/K! Wonderful perfomances! P/B are the champions, finally! And I/K are just brilliant, they are a future champions, I'm sure!
And B/S were good too, deserve their medals, and I really like Katia's new dress.
Missed the Kerrs but I guess they did well

 

[seniorita]

weee Natalie and Fabia won!!!! And Kerrs medaled!!! These two are my favs!
I like Elena and Nikita very much, so cute!

 

[Smoke]

Which pair used Rolling Stones' Paint It Black & Angie? I couldn't remember.

 

[sequinsgalore]

What great performances...I really liked top 6.

Pechalat/Bourzat are in a good position to take bronze at Worlds now...perhaps even silver, depending on Virtue/Moir.

 

[oleada]

Videos:
Pechalat/Bourzat
Bobrova/Soloviev
Kerr/Kerr
Ilinykh/Katsalapov
Faiella/Scali
Riazanova/Tkachenko

 

[cloudkicker09]

I'm very happy for Péchalat & Bourzat finally earning a medal at Europeans, for the Kerrs' second medal and for Faiella & Scali coming back from a bad SD a skating a great FD. The top two Russian couples were overscored. Did Bobrova & Soloviev really deserve higher PCS than the Kerrs and Faiella & Scali? :sheesh:

FINALLY someone who agrees with me, all three Russian teams were WAY over scored, and none of their skating warrented the points and placements in this European championships. Happy that the Kerrs medaled, but they deserved MORE than what they got.

 

[FlattFan]

watching the top 5 FD, I would rank them

1. F/S
2. K/K
3. P/B
4. B/S
5. I/K

 

[Orion]

FINALLY someone who agrees with me, all three Russian teams were WAY over scored, and none of their skating warrented the points and placements in this European championships. Happy that the Kerrs medaled, but they deserved MORE than what they got.

Agree! The Kerrs deserved the silver, easily! The Swedish commentators were less than impressed with B/S, said they 'lack that certain something' - they failed to capture my interest and so did the third Russian couple. I liked I/K's ballet routine, but on the other hand, I didn't care for their short program.

The ones I loved today were P/B, K/K, F/S and the German couple!

 

[3T3T]

I disagree. I like all the Russian couples, am a bit disappointed for R/T as I they don't think they skated their best. I would rank the Top 5 as

1. B/S
2. K/K
3. P/B
4. I/K
5. F/S

It was very close for me between B/S & K/K but I would just give it to the Russians. I just love the style of B/S, very elegant, stylish, wonderfull lifts, nice spins he does need to work on his twizzles. I think that was the best the Kerrs have skated in a long time, I wonder will they stay for one more year? First time I had seen P/B but taught it was scrappy in places. I would expect I/K to be on the podium next year, a very stong and impressive debut. That performance tonight was a long ahead of what seen in China. Was kinda disappointed with F/S, not a great final season.

I don't really know how people can judge ice dance I find so difficult to notice the differences. It is fairly easy to see the difference between the top and bottom pairs but when you are looking at the top teams a lot of it (for me) is down to a personal preference of the couples style.

Of the other teams I enjoyed the Lithuanians, the second French couple, the Hungarians were slightly disappointing. I enjoyed the German couple but didn't get the costumes.

 

[oleada]

I thought the results were right and I have no issue with them, except I thought the Ukrainians were scored too high. I enjoyed the Spanish team a lot more. I'm not a big fan of B/S, but they are very good technicians with great skating skills, and the judges love that.

 

[MikiAndoFan#1]

The Swedish commentators were less than impressed with B/S, said they 'lack that certain something'

The Portuguese commentators also weren't impressed by Bobrova & Soloviev. Oh well...

 

[Atena]

I am sooooo happy for P/B I think they had some problem at the spin but the rest o the program is juts perfec, i love the choreopraph and how they play the roles so well. And how cute was theyr reaction at the end of the program

Congratulations to all the teams

 

[cloudkicker09]

In terms of the Russian placements here at Euros, like I said before none of them were deserving and all of them were way over marked. In light of what happened at Sochi and the Grand Prix this year, someone at the Russian federation must have really overpolitked to prevent embarresment, but it will more embarressing for the sport as a whole if one of these three teams wins the Euro or World title next year.

I turly believe that Yana and Fedor are much better then any of the three dance teams here, and will hopefully surpass them all next season through the continuing unwavering support of the federation.

 

[Big Deal]

Watching the videos in the FD my order is as follows:
1. K/K (airy, challanging, unusually strong technically , innovativeí)
2.F/S (real character, technically excellent- don't understand their points...)
3.P/B ( a little bit elaborated, especially him, trouble in the spin and here and there, but nice)
4.B/S (trouble in the twizzles, like usually, lovely lines and edges)
5.I/K (she is wonderful to look at, he tries to grow up to her)
6.R/T (disappointing, really difficult to believe that Kokhlova/Andreev is worse tan they).

 

[oleada]

I turly believe that Yana and Fedor are much better then any of the three dance teams here, and will hopefully surpass them all next season through the continuing unwavering support of the federation.

You are really being blinded by your fandom of Fedor here. Khoklova and Andreev are nowhere near the level of the three teams here. Why would Russia send a team that did not even manage to medal at a minor B international over three teams that medaled in the Grand Prix? And looking at the scores, they made the right decision.

Fedor is new at the discipline and it shows, a lot. He's weak in the footwork, slow and he does not move like a dancer. He's nowhere close to being at the level of Katsalapov, Tkachenko or Soloviev. The team has good lifts, but that is about it.

Russia is much more better off investing in these three young teams who are excellent dancers and superb technicians. The only issue here is B/S PCS being perhaps too high, but as people who have seen them live, their basics and lines are beautiful.

 

[Lucky Star]

I turly believe that Yana and Fedor are much better then any of the three dance teams here, and will hopefully surpass them all next season through the continuing unwavering support of the federation.

No way! Fedor will never be as good as Katsalapov, Tkachenko or Soloviev, and even Yana as a partner and Shpilband as a coach can't change it.

I agree with the placement as well as oleada, didn't see the Ukrainians though, so I can't say...
I/K are special, they are the champions and like a breath of fresh air, I just love them! And I hope they will be #1 Russian team in Sochi.

upd. ITA, oleada, again!

 

[oleada]

I/K are special, they are the champions and like a breath of fresh air, I just love them! And I hope they will be #1 Russian team in Sochi

Me too, they are really something special. Do you know if they will go to Worlds after their result here?

I will be sad for Riazanova & Tkachenko if they can't go as well. I really love them too, and their SD is my favorite of the season. They have made huge strides in their 2 seasons together. I was sad when Ekaterina split with Jonathan Guerreiro, but it has proved to be the right decision.

 

[Lucky Star]

Me too, they are really something special. Do you know if they will go to Worlds after their result here?

No, the Worlds team will be announced later, but I think I/K will go. Though somtimes Russian FS Federation makes the final choice after the Russian cup final like it was two years ago with Rubleva/Shefer and B/S, so we should wait. But I/K tonight were obviously stronger and I think they will go

I will be sad for Riazanova & Tkachenko if they can't go as well. I really love them too, and their SD is my favorite of the season. They have made huge strides in their 2 seasons together. I was sad when Ekaterina split with Jonathan Guerreiro, but it has proved to be the right decision.

I will be sad for them too, they deserve to go, but if I have to choose between them and I/K, I'll choose I/K for sure!
Hopefully next year Russia will have 3 spots at Worlds, but Monko/Khaliavin, my other favorites, will move seniors, so it will be even harder choice for me

 

[cloudkicker09]

Oleada and Lucky Star, I have to disagree, but I respect your opinons.

I have both competed in this sport (before it came down to ice or law school, I choose law school), and been a spectator for 20 years, and I have seen hell, fire, rain, and more drama than you can imagine. In terms of Russian ice dancing, over the years I have seen a trend, especially since the fall of the USSR, Russian ice dancing teams get to the top far too quickly, then graduate with an olympic gold medal, then another Russian who looks a like a cheap knock off of the previous team, replaces them and takes their place on the podium, leaping over teams who have worked hard just to get in reaching distance of that top step. Then cycle repeats itself. For example Pasha, who was a bottle blond overly dramatic verison of the Soviet teams, WAY TOO MUCH DRAMA then came L/A, and their tribute to 9/11, who were just as dramatic but a little more subdued, then came the NAVKA who was knock off of Pasha, followed by Dom/Shab, Dom looked and skated too much like Navka, and do not even get me started on their 'tribal dance' I was disgusted by the fact that the ISU and IOC allowed them to do that at the olympics. Thankfully the judges in Vancouver had enough sense not to give them olympic gold. The point is I have seen it all throughout the years, and these three teams are no different. I am not impressed, and from my understanding and rumors I have been hearing, neither is the Russian federation, that is why I said 'I think that this event has been overpolitked to prevent embarresment".

It is not fandom. What I see when I watch Yana and Fedor skate, is in a class all on its own, they have taken traditional Russian ice dancing moderized it and filled it with passion. With them, I am not watching repeat of what I have seen over the years, it is new and I like it. They are a breath of fresh air in Russian ice dancing and it is my hope and belief that the federation, goes with them , not "Its all been done before"

 

[alithia]

I was ok with the top three.It's the first time in a couple of years I actually enjoyed the FD at Europeans.
I liked P/B a lot, their program isn't my favourite of them but this was a good skate and only to see them so happy at the end it's worth the medal.
I loved B/S and still can't get the criticism , they're beautiful technicians, very elegant, the program was subtle but it worked.I can't understand why some people are so convinced they will be so easily surpassed.
I loved the Kerrs too, they always remind me why I love ice dance and they were the cleanest I've seen them
I don't get the huge mark gap between I/K and R/T.At some point when I saw R/T marks I thought something was wrong.And I/K marks were too far for two couples that went head to head the other day.It seemed strange but I guess that's the will of the Russian Federation.I just hope they don't start sacrificing teams and hurting their chances as they tended to do this last olympic cycle.
F/S did it to themselves and they had a beautiful FD.I can't be sure they'd medal anyway this year but they could be 4th and have a better FD mark.I think their performance on Wednesday hurt their chances of being marked more fairly in the PCS.