Lomardia Trophy onsite reports

[YesWay]

I know I'm not the only one attending, so hopefully others will post here, with their own experiences...

Meanwhile, here I am in Bergamo, city of speed bumps and traffic lights...

Stephane and Deniss were there to greet me when I arrived at my hotel. I dropped my stuff and left for the rink... Joshi was in the hotel lobby to see me off. (OK, "greet" and "see me off" in this case actually means they were there, but were completely unaware of my presence LOL ;-D)

At the rink, I collected my 3 day pass, attached to a lanyard that is unlikely to last 3 hours without my pass dropping off, never mind 3 days. Have to do something about that. The day's practice were mostly over, so I ate some pasta in the rink café during Zamboni break, then down to the rink to watch the last practice session of the day - with Team USA.

Jason landed some 3A's, and an excellent 3A+3T. His quads were not working at all though... I saw maybe 10 attempts and none of them successful, all falls and pops.

The spectator area actually has wooden benches (well, planks really LOL) bolted on top of the concrete steps, so not quite as bad as I was expecting...!

I saw the draw. Most of the skaters seemed to be there. It's awesome to surrounded by so many famous faces...!By the way, the official advised the skaters going to the practice sessions at "the other rink" (Palasesto), to allow 1.5 hours to get there on the official shuttle bus, because traffic might be bad...!

Well, looking forward to tomorrow...

 

[Arriba627]

You are off to a roaring start, Yes Way. Have fun! Thank you for being our eyes and ears!

 

[YesWay]

Some photos from the draw:
Team Japan singles skaters
Alina Zagitova
Jason Brown

 

[Li'Kitsu]

Ooohhh, pictures already

Good luck with those lanyards and planks, and lots of fun at the competition! Same of course to everyone attending, give those skaters some lovely cheers for all of us who can't be there as well

 

[Tavi...]

Some photos from the draw:
Team Japan singles skaters
Alina Zagitova
Jason Brown

Those are really nice - thank you! And thanks for your vivid report!

 

[karne]

Thanks for the report, YesWay! I hope you have a great time!

Did you see Brendan and James?

 

[UnNamed]

Probably i'll be there tomorrow.

Also, test skating are in PalaSesto near Milan and they should be free entrance.

 

[Alex D]

30 press people and 28 of Japan, can you believe that.

 

[hippomoomin]

Wonder how many Japanese reporters are at U.S. International Figure Skating Classic, with the camera ready Marin there.

30 press people and 28 of Japan, can you believe that.

 

[YesWay]

Thanks for the report, YesWay! I hope you have a great time!

Did you see Brendan and James?

Thanks, James was at the draw, but not Brendan. James drew for him...

 

[NoNameFace]

YesWay -

I'm an avid fan of Your reports and photos, thank You for all the effort and bringing us the event a bit closer! I'm still disappointed by myself that I cannot go to Nepela (despite planning to), but it's a bit better to have such people like You to be live at places where all the magic happens.

Enjoy Your trip and take care!

 

[adelia]

Thank you for the report!
Was Petrov at the draw too?

 

[UnNamed]

I was there, so intense!
Unfortunately no photo, my smartphone camera is not good enough.
A lot of Higuchi fan on site!
35€ is a thievery! That's why i don't think i will be for the free programs.

 

[YesWay]

Just back from the rink, after the first day of competition....

First, may I just say.... "WAKABAAAAAAAAAAA!" :-D Love love love her SP, and her performance today was outstanding! New PB! I haven't seen video yet, but I was a little surprised her 3T was clean - it seemed mostly UR during practice...

Carolina was another highlight - jumps seemed a bit shaky, but her skating overall was divine...

Alina, is human after all...! Mistake on the 2A was weird (she was landing it fine in practice and warmup). And it seems the judges didn't like her so much, PCS-wise...? Still an impressive score, but I'm guessing it's a long way short of what she's aiming for... she didn't look happy about it...

I thought Yura Matsuda was lovely, she's been under the radar, so I didn't know what to expect... and her performance was a pleasant surprise! Yura and Wakaba seemed quite relaxed after the competition... they seemed to be having fun together in the cafe, taking selfies etc...

Next, I have to say "JAAAAAAASOOOOOOOOOON!" Love that program! He got the loudest cheers when his name was announced for the 6mins warmup.

Graham Newberry was landing the best 3A's in his group during 6 minute warmup... so it was disappointing he put hands down in the competition :-/ By the way, it seems Team GB is staying in my hotel too... so many skaters there, and it's not even one of the official hotels as far as I know. (At least, it wasn't at the time I booked it)

Torrential rain arrived in the afternoon... lots of people got a soaking, just running a few meters from the car park to the entrance. It was fine by the end of the day though...

Great day of competition... but those "seats" are killing me. No back support... :-/

OK, that's it for now - I need to go check up on US Int FS Classic... :-D

 

[Arriba627]

^^^Take a couple ibuprofen for your back. Between the seats and tensing up when your favorites are on, your back takes a beating.

Classic has pairs starting in about 45 mins, then about two hours later is men's--Nathan, Max, Daddy Mura, etc. Busy day! Enjoy and thank you.

 

[YesWay]

Back from today's competitions... Ladies was pretty scrappy... very few clean skates and lots of skaters did much worse than I would have hoped... maybe it's too early in the season and skaters are not in good shape yet? Na-hyun Kim... Emmi Peltonen... Amber Glenn... Laurine Lecavalier... etc... all capable of much better...

But then the final group was amazing!

Wakaba was awesome again! She wasn't looking good in 6 minute warmup, and she fell in warmup just before she skated, while waiting for previous skater's score. (if you watch video, you can see her left leg is all wet!) But she delivered when it mattered...! Great program, I love it! It really suits her, and she performs it with great passion. Standing ovation at the end...! 217 points!

Alina skated right after Wakaba, but was undaunted. Great performance, another standing ovation. She won, but by less than a point...! Lower PCS than Wakaba (and Caro of course), but technical/athletic prowess made up for that, and won the day.

Carolina was a little shakey on the jumps again, but such beautiful skating...

Yura Matsuda was again, a nice surprise! A pleasing performance and close to 200 points total...!

The stands were pretty packed despite the gigantic ticket prices. Having said that, a lot of the skaters were in the stands, watching...

One more day to go... better get some sleep... ZZZZzzzZZZz

 

[demarinis5]

Thanks for the report! I watched the final group. Great skating by the ladies!

 

[Mrs. P]

Would love to see any live reports from the men fs/ice dance fd!!

 

[Antyv]

Would love to see any live reports from the men fs/ice dance fd!!

If you want, Men FS from an eyewitness (Google translation from Russian)
https://translate.google.ru/transla.../zapiskisumashedshego/1409287.html&edit-text=

 

[Mrs. P]

What a nice write-up! And a treat for Shoma fans -- quite a bit on him.... Thanks for sharing Antyv!