German Nationals 2-4 January

[Anke G]

The German federation is trying a new format this year at German Nationals in Berlin.

In order to create an event that will hopefully attract a bigger audience and allow for better TV coverage, they are splitting off the top warm-up groups from the rest of the field for the long programs.

Related German-language press releases:
http://www.deu.de/ww/de/pub/veranstaltungen/saison2003_2004/content2378.htm
http://www.deu.de/ww/de/pub/presse/content3013.htm
http://www.deu.de/ww/de/pub/veranstaltungen/saison2003_2004/dm2004/zeitplan.htm

Fri., 2 Jan. 15:00: Compulsory dance
16:00: Ladies - short
19:00: Men - short
21:15: Synchro - short

Sat., 3 Jan. 15:00: Ladies - long (those who placed 7-24 in short)
17:40: Synchro - long (those who placed 4-6 in short)
19:00: Ladies - long (those who placed 1-6 in short)
20:00: Synchro - long (those who placed 1-3 in short)
20:40: Original dance
21:25: Pairs - short

Sun., 4 Jan. 11:30: Men - long (those who placed 7-18 in short)
13:20: Free dance
14:40: Men – long (those who placed 1-6 in short)
15:40: Pairs – long
18:00: Awards ceremony

It’s an interesting idea, but must be terrible for the judges who have to remember how people skated from the earlier segment to the latter so they can rank skaters. Maybe the idea is that it will work with CoP, since judges are supposed to be objective and not worrying about placements in that system. Of course, they’ll need to make sure the earlier skaters keep their skates handy, just in case they win.

 

[Matt]

They have synchro skating at the German Nats? That's cool--we have a couple synchro teams here in the States, but I've only ever seen one competition, and that was several years ago. That might be an interesting idea for USFSA, don't you think?

 

[Anke G]

Hi Matt,

There's actually a lot of synchro activity in the US and around the world. It just isn't given much publicity. I'll post some info at The Edge forum.

Anke G.

 

[thisthingcalledlove]

synchro

Lifetime (tm) Television for Women always plays synchro worlds...

 

[Anke G]

Results coming in

German Nationals start today and the results are being posted at http://www.deu.de/shared/data/results/dm2004/index.htm

Men's short starts at 1pm EST, with Lindemann, Vlascenko, and Smalun skating 11th, 12th, and 13th (i.e., last). Why do I have a funny feeling about that lottery for start order?

Cheers,
Anke G.

 

[hockeyfan228]

All but the pairs SP have completed the first round:

Men's SP
1 Andrejs VLASCENKO
2 Stefan LINDEMANN
3 Martin LIEBERS
4 Silvio SMALUN
5 Peter LIEBERS
6 Andre KADEN
6 Radomir SOUMAR
8 Frederik PAULS
9 Tobias BAYER
10 Ulf BÖKELER
11 Ferenc KASSAI
12 Michael GANSER
13 Clemens BRUMMER

Vlascenko took all the 1st place ordinals. Lindemann took all but one 2nd place ordinal. Ordinals for the next four skaters were all over the place. Eighth place Pauls got a 5th place ordinal, from his regional judge.

From the marks, it look liked Vlascenko had a solid technical (5.4-5.6) and fine presentation (5.5-5.8) performance. Lindeman had mostly low 5's in tech and mid 5's in pre. It looks like Smalun had his typical tech meltdown (4.1-4.7), with fine pre marks (5.4-5.8).

Ladies' SP
1 Annette DYTRT
2 Denise ZIMMERMANN
3 Christiane BERGER
4 Katharina HÄCKER
5 Stefanie DANKERT
6 Constanze PAULINUS
7 Caroline GÜLKE
8 Denise PHILIPP
9 Kristina BEUTELROCK
10 Mari-Doris VARTMANN
11 Constance KEMMNER
12 Cornelia BEYERMANN
13 Kristin WIECZOREK
14 Juliane JARSUMBECK
15 Sina FROWERK
16 Kristina GEIßLER
17 Carolin PETZOLDT

Not surprisingly Dytrt's scores (5.2-5.5/5.5-5.7) are a lot higher than 2nd place Zimmermann's (4.8-5.3/4.0-5.4). There seemed to be disagreement about second and third place, with a mix of ordinals there.

Winkler/Lohse won both compulsories handily over the Beiers. The only surprise was that they received a 5.4 in pre from their own regional judge in the Austrian Waltz compulsory dance

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

I presume Silvio will pull himself up to the Podium

Not surprsied at Vlashenko.

Don't know the others.

Joe

 

[RealtorGal]

Isn't Vlaschenko over 30 already?

 

[tdnuva]

Not yet... but he'll be 30 in June......

 

[shine]

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH SILVIO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I guess no Smalun at Worlds this year

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

Shine - It ain't over till it's over. Smalin could win the Free and get a bye.

Joe

 

[hockeyfan228]

Lindemann won the Men's LP and is the German National Champion:

1 Stefan LINDEMANN ESCE THR 2.0 2 1
2 Andrejs VLASCENKO MEV BAY 2.5 1 2
3 Silvio SMALUN ECO BAY 5.0 4 3
4 Martin LIEBERS SCB BER 5.5 3 4
5 Peter LIEBERS SCB BER 7.5 5 5
6 Andre KADEN SCB BER 9.0 6 6
7 Ulf BÖKELER TUSS B-W 12.0 10 7
8 Tobias BAYER EVAU BAY 13.5 9 9
9 Frederik PAULS ESGE B-W 14.0 8 10
10 Clemens BRUMMER SCC BER 14.5 13 8
11 Radomir SOUMAR EVRO BAY 15.0 6 12
12 Michael GANSER ERCM BAY 17.0 12 11
13 Ferenc KASSAI SCRI BAY 18.5 11 13

Lindemann lost two first-place ordinals to Vlascenko, who lost two second-place ordinals to Smalun. Lindemann and Vlascenko both had solid tech and pre scores. Smalun's tech scores were lower (low to mid 5's), but his pre scores were close to Lindemann's and Vlascenko's.

Last year, all three competed at Euros, and none placed in the top ten to get an automatic berth on the World team, and the Federation held a skate-off. Germany gets to send two men to Euros this year.

Savchenko/Szolkowy won the pairs SP and LP, for first place. Fitze/Rex received all second-place ordinals in the LP. Germany gets to send two couples to Euros. (Fitze/Rex placed 9th last year.)

1 Aliona SAVCHENKO / Robin SZOLKOWY CEC SAS 1.5 1 1
2 Eva-Maria FITZE / Rico REX ERCM/CEC B/S 3.5 3 2
3 Mikkeline KIERKGAARD / Norman JESCHKE SCB BER 4.0 2 3
4 Rebecca HANDKE / Daniel WENDE SCM/EJE NRW 6.5 5 4
5 Nicole NÖNNIG / Matthias BLEYER CEC SAS 7.0 4 5

With Claudia Raushenberg, Robin Szolkowy won the German (senior) Nationals in 2001; they had competed as Juniors from 1997-2001. Savchenko competed for Ukraine with Stanislav Morozov from 1999-SLC. They placed ninth at the 2001 WC's, 6th at the 2001 Euros, and 15th at SLC. Savchenko/Morozov's bio on the ISU site says, "After competing at the junior and senior level with different partners Savchenko/Morozov took the 2000 World Junior title in their second season as a team." This is the second time she's switched partners and made a mark quickly. They had good tech scores (mostly 5.5-5.8, except for a 5.3 from their regional judge), and great pre scores (5.6-5.8). Fitze/Rex's scores were respectable, but they weren't even close. For a first-year pair, that is quite a feat.

Annette Dytrt took first in the LP to win the championship, and Germany's lone Ladies' spot:

1 Annette DYTRT MEV BAY 1.5 1 1
2 Denise ZIMMERMANN MERC B-W 4.0 2 3
3 Constanze PAULINUS ESCE THR 5.0 6 2
4 Katharina HÄCKER MERC B-W 6.0 4 4
5 Stefanie DANKERT BTSC BER 7.5 5 5
6 Christiane BERGER MERC B-W 7.5 3 6
7 Constance KEMMNER SERC B-W 12.5 11 7
8 Kristina BEUTELROCK TSVK BAY 12.5 9 8
9 Mari-Doris VARTMANN DEG NRW 14.0 10 9
10 Denise PHILIPP ERCW NRW 16.0 8 12
11 Cornelia BEYERMANN ESCE THR 17.0 12 11
12 Carolin PETZOLDT CEC SAS 18.5 17 10
13 Kristin WIECZOREK USGC SAS 19.5 13 13
14 Juliane JARSUMBECK DREC SAS 21.0 14 14
15 Kristina GEIßLER MEV BAY 23.0 16 15
16 Sina FROWERK TUSS B-W 23.5 15 16
R Caroline GÜLKE SCB BER 7

Dytrt won all first-place ordinals, with 5.3-5.5 in tech and 5.4-5.7 in pre. Perhaps a little protocol judging with the lone fourth place ordinal for Constanze Paulinus, who pulled up from 6th after the SP to third overall, with a second-place finish in the LP. She received all but two second-place ordinals. The lone third-place ordinal was from Zimmerman's regional judge, by .1.

Germany gets to send two dance couples to Euros, and there were two competing couples: Winkler/Lohse (5.7-5.8 in tech for the FD, 5.85.9 for pre), and Beier/Beier, who had respectable scores, mostly in the low 5's.

 

[Anke G]

From the FSUniverse thread and mostly from some German-language reports at http://de.sports.yahoo.com/s/iceskating.html, I can add some information:

Ladies: Annette Dytrt will go to Euros. IF she places in the top 15 at Euros, she will probably get the nod for Worlds. (She placed 21 at
Euros last year, but skates with more confidence this year.)

Dance: Winkler/Lohse reworked their FD, but given that they don't skate under CoP anymore this year, I don't know what they were striving for. Beier/Beier were the only other team and will go to Euros, too. I don't know if they are eligible for Jr. Worlds or not.

Men: Lindemann and Vlascenko go to Euros and battle it out there for the
one spot to Worlds. Smalun's season ended with his 3rd place finish.
Vlascenko went first in the LP, skated without serious error, but no quad.
Lindemann then went all out, missed his quad (over-rotated), but got all
his other jumps. It was his best skate ever.

Pairs: The press (and federation, I'd say) is really fickle on this one...each of the top 3 teams has been touted as the great hope for the future. The winners are the current darlings...apparently they're very
good, especially given they've been together 6 months or so.

Savchenko (Ukraine) and Kierkgaard (Denmark) have to wait until next year
to compete for Germany. So Fitze and Rex are going to Euros. Someone on
Europe On Ice thought that Handke and Wende will be the second team at
Euros, and I agree. Reports are that Eva-Maria has really been struggling
with her bulimia lately. The federation is trying to help, but it's tough. There was another report that Ingo's wife has agreed to move to Chemnitz, so he may be able to work something out with the federation. But his strong desire to have an assistant isn't in the budget. They have been talking to Igor Moskvin (who speaks German), but he would clearly be there on a part-time basis only, if he agreed to help. I expect more news in the coming weeks.

(Sorry for any screwy formatting; I'm still getting the hang of posting, and cutting and pasting, to this forum.)

Cheers,
Anke G.

 

[Gardenkitty]

Thanks for the reports!

 

[Tove]

where is Noenning & Bleyer? injured, or did they quit?

Anke, did you see Savchenko skate with her new partner? if so, could you please tell me about it? Aljona is so great, I hope she has found the right partner!!

 

[tdnuva]

If you have a look at the lists - Nönnig & Bleyer were 5th.

 

[Anke G]

Anke, did you see Savchenko skate with her new partner? if so, could you please tell me about it? Aljona is so great, I hope she has found the right partner!!

Sorry, I wasn't in Berlin. My reports are just what I've gleaned from various news reports. I'd be happy to hear reports from anyone who was there, too.

 

[JonnyCoop]

I know I'm waiting for the day that Kierkgaard and Jeschke get to compete internationally; Mikkeline Kierkgaard is a terrific talent and Denmark's loss was definitely Germany's gain.

 

[Tove]

I'm totally with you, she's an exceptional talent!!