Nordic skating (FIN, SWE, NOR, DEN, ISL)

[norwegianfairytale]

So as most people who watched Santa Claus Cup know, Mia Caroline Risa Gomez won the senior women event with a new PB of 163 points and it´s also a new Norwegian record for ladies. She got the TES needed for WC, and for the first time since 2018 Norway has a skater qualified for Worlds! If Maria and James will be able to get their SP minimums in time before Worlds as well, we might have a situation where Norway is represented in 2 disciplines after years of not having anyone! That would be great!

On a sad note, as I was looking for skaters with Worlds TES, I noticed that Josefin Taljegård dosesn´t have the SP minimums yet She did have them before they raised the minimums again this season. I´m really worried if she will get them, because she has been skating several clean skates with her BV. She has all level 4 on spins and step sequence, but with her jump content of 2A, 3T-2T and 3F, her BV is only 27.53. Even when she has done great skates with good GOE her highest TES is around 30 and she needs 32. Her flip seems to give her a q and some negative GOE where she loose a point, but even then I think it´s not enough unless she will get great GOE. When she skated with a clean 3T instead of 3F it wasn´t enough either. Her closest score to the 32 TES was in 2021 with 31.17, and there she went for 3Lz-2T combo but got a q on the lutz. She hasn´t been doing the lutz combo for a long time, but whatever content she had it´s just a little short or gives her rotation issues. I havn´t done the math, but it´s extremely difficult to get the Worlds TES without a triple triple combination. I wonder what she can do to up her a content a little to get the TES. Is it possible she could do a 3S-2T combo instead with the 3F?

Sweden doesn´t have any other women skater with the Worlds TES yet either... I don´t know if Anita Östlund is still competing, did Matilda Agoltsson retire? Nina Fredriksson is a promising skater in junior fields, she does have a nice 3Lz.

 

[norwegianfairytale]

I wanted to give a quick update about the situation for the male skaters in Norway:

Our novice skater Daniil Valanov competed at Santa Claus Cup this weekend. He has now added 3Lz in his programs so he is constantly working on his technical content. He is still struggling with rotation, he got < on both the lutz and flip he triedl, but at least it wasn´t downgraded so it´s a step in the right direction. He also went for 3S and 3Lo in the FS but fell on then, but overall he went for 4 triples in his FS and since he still in novice, I think he has the technical ability and dedication to get to the level which is needed in junior and senior to be able to compete internationally. However, I hope he works on his jump technique, it seems he doesn´t have enough speed to be able to rotate the triples fully, so until it gets better he will continue struggling with UR issues.

Francis Sutton is still out with injury, unfortunately that is the only skaters we have in juniors now.

As for the American senior skater, Jan William Eraker, who is competing domestic in Norway (still no official information that he has switched countrys to Norway, but he represents the skating club in the capital), he still has very low technical content and has barely scored over 100 points in total in the domestic competitions (he competed in his third this weekend). His best score 116 points. It´s a shame he doesn´t have the triples yet, because he has nice spins and artistic talent and nice programs. But, there was finally a big improvement this weekend, he has tried a few triples in competitions but they got UR, but this weekend he finally fully rotated his first 3S in competition. All though, he saved that jump with very low knee action which gave him a bit negative GOE. The first fully rotated triple is a step in the right direction and I hope he will compete in Nationals in January and add more triples!

 

[TT_Fin]

So as most people who watched Santa Claus Cup know, Mia Caroline Risa Gomez won the senior women event with a new PB of 163 points and it´s also a new Norwegian record for ladies. She got the TES needed for WC, and for the first time since 2018 Norway has a skater qualified for Worlds! If Maria and James will be able to get their SP minimums in time before Worlds as well, we might have a situation where Norway is represented in 2 disciplines after years of not having anyone! That would be great!

On a sad note, as I was looking for skaters with Worlds TES, I noticed that Josefin Taljegård dosesn´t have the SP minimums yet She did have them before they raised the minimums again this season. I´m really worried if she will get them, because she has been skating several clean skates with her BV. She has all level 4 on spins and step sequence, but with her jump content of 2A, 3T-2T and 3F, her BV is only 27.53. Even when she has done great skates with good GOE her highest TES is around 30 and she needs 32. Her flip seems to give her a q and some negative GOE where she loose a point, but even then I think it´s not enough unless she will get great GOE. When she skated with a clean 3T instead of 3F it wasn´t enough either. Her closest score to the 32 TES was in 2021 with 31.17, and there she went for 3Lz-2T combo but got a q on the lutz. She hasn´t been doing the lutz combo for a long time, but whatever content she had it´s just a little short or gives her rotation issues. I havn´t done the math, but it´s extremely difficult to get the Worlds TES without a triple triple combination. I wonder what she can do to up her a content a little to get the TES. Is it possible she could do a 3S-2T combo instead with the 3F?

Sweden doesn´t have any other women skater with the Worlds TES yet either... I don´t know if Anita Östlund is still competing, did Matilda Agoltsson retire? Nina Fredriksson is a promising skater in junior fields, she does have a nice 3Lz.

It has been tight to get SP minimums for worlds even with 3t-3t this season. It is very much depending on GOEs.

You made me curious and I went to peek Anita's Instagram, which I found. There is no signs about retiring and she has posted videos of skating, so I got the impression that she still is competing. But no international competitions and her latest training video was about an half a year ago, so

This made me wonder what Vera Stolt from Finland does. She just disappeared and haven't competed in nationals since corona restrictions game entered. She was technically most promising in women some years ago. So I lurked also her's Insta. This are mentioned:
professional figure skater
oasis of the seas
So she is doing shows on the sea.

 

[norwegianfairytale]

The skating union has officially picked the EC team now for Norway:

As expected: Mia Risa Gomez for senior ladies, Linnea Kilsand as substitute.

Bjørkli & Koszuta in Ice Dance, so need to worry @ladyjane

 

[ladyjane]

I definitely am going to cheer them on at EC, @norwegianfairytale!

 

[norwegianfairytale]

Team Norway for Nordics is also ready:


Senior women:

Frida Turiddotter Berge, AKK

Mia Caroline Risa Gomez, SKK

Linnea Kolstad Kilsand, AKK

Junior women:

Oda Tønnesen Havgar, OI

Ida Eline Vamnes, AKK

Pernille With, AKK

Novice girls:

Celin Beate Ellingsen, SSK

Amalie Nordbø, SKK

Elea Rustgaard, AKK

Novice boys:

Daniil Valanov, LIL

Nordics doesn´t have Ice Dance right?

It´s going to be busy weeks for Mia, I see this is close to Euros! Also, Nationals in Norway is only two weeks before Euros!!!

 

[TT_Fin]

Nordics doesn´t have Ice Dance right?

It´s going to be busy weeks for Mia, I see this is close to Euros! Also, Nationals in Norway is only two weeks before Euros!!!

No, no ID or pairs in Nordics. There has been time that there have been nobody or just one couple in Nordic countries who could take part, so that is the reason. But it is open, who knows if there will more? I would be nice if the responsible of organizing it tried. Now Finland has a pair, they just are not eligible to compete internationally because of country change yet - this what I read from local fed's article - Sweden has a pair, but they live in USA, would they be interested? Norway has an ID couple and Finland has two, so trying ID would be interesting.

But is is an issue it is so close to Europeans. It has quite often been so. Often skaters who take part in Europeans does not go to Nordics, if they have minimums for WC. But those who still need those minimums, usually go there. And I suppose it has been open just for that reason, to keep the chance to try the minimums.

 

[norwegianfairytale]

No, no ID or pairs in Nordics. There has been time that there have been nobody or just one couple in Nordic countries who could take part, so that is the reason. But it is open, who knows if there will more? I would be nice if the responsible of organizing it tried. Now Finland has a pair, they just are not eligible to compete internationally because of country change yet - this what I read from local fed's article - Sweden has a pair, but they live in USA, would they be interested? Norway has an ID couple and Finland has two, so trying ID would be interesting.

But is is an issue it is so close to Europeans. It has quite often been so. Often skaters who take part in Europeans does not go to Nordics, if they have minimums for WC. But those who still need those minimums, usually go there. And I suppose it has been open just for that reason, to keep the chance to try the minimums.

We have the Danish Ice Dance team as well now, they havn´t skated internationally, but Nordics would certainly be a nice place to start, so maybe ID would be something in the future. But you make a good point, since it´s so close to Euros, pairs like the Finnish ID might not want to go because they have minimums and it´s to close to Euros.

I´m wondering if Nordics will have fewer skaters this years in general. I just thought when I posted the Norwegian entries yesterday that it was fewer then normal. I just had to check, and in fact, last year there was 5 entries in novice and 5 entries in junior, now there is only 3 in each of the disciplines, in total there was 4 more skaters last year. And we have plenty of skaters who are reached the skating associations requirement. I wonder if it has something to do that it´s on Iceland, I guess the expenses covering the skaters must be higher this year, so maybe they couldn´t afford more skaters to go. It could also be that last year we sent more skaters because of the covid situation and that the skaters hadn´t been to many international events prior in the season, so they had more money to put on Nordics last year. I´m not sure what we did the years before that. In 2020 there was 4 skaters in junior and novice, but Nordics was in Norway then so the travel expenses must have been lower. I see two of the skaters who got the spots in novice now, is skating in junior this season.

Finland usually have a big numbers of skaters going, so it will be interesting to see what they do.

 

[annser]

Every country is allowed to have 3 entries in each category. They can get more spots if there is any country who don't have 3 skaters.

 

[TT_Fin]

Finland usually confirms Nordic team at the same time as European's team, which has been many times next Monday after Nationals. I lurked Sweden's federations sites and found out they have also nationals at the same time as Finns. When they usually confirm their team?

 

[TT_Fin]

Emmi has got only 48+ at Zagreb. This means there is no way she can reach enough high scores to get the the spot at Euros. She should get in average about 176 from Zagreb and nationals. Not possible any more, even if she skates FS and both programs in nationals clean, IMO. It is pity for her, but for me it is also ok that Janna goes to Euros. The others next on the list would need 190+ and the same, technical content is not enough to it. Janna has had problems with her SP and then skated good FS, just hope she can skate clean in Euros in SP two. Here are skaters who have 1) TES 2) have skated in two competitions which counts. For Emmi this is just second one and that's why she is still not on the list.

 

[snowflake]

Sweden doesn´t have any other women skater with the Worlds TES yet either... I don´t know if Anita Östlund is still competing, did Matilda Agoltsson retire? Nina Fredriksson is a promising skater in junior fields, she does have a nice 3Lz.

I too wonder about Anita and Matilda. I know Anita has had injury problems. None of them has qualified for Swedish Nationals. We will not know if they are coming back or not until they tell us. I haven't followed the Swedish women closely, but looks like there is not much progress. Except for(as you said) Nina who went for a 3lutz-3toe combination at a competition. I don't even know how old she is? Hopefully Josefin gets the minimum tech for worlds at Euros or Nordics...

Finland usually confirms Nordic team at the same time as European's team, which has been many times next Monday after Nationals. I lurked Sweden's federations sites and found out they have also nationals at the same time as Finns. When they usually confirm their team?

Usually I think teams for Nordics, Euros and other comps like Universiade and youth olympics are confirmed right after nationals. But as nothing has been usual for some seasons(like last Nationals being held in april 22) I'm not sure I remember correctly.

 

[TT_Fin]

Emmi has had a disaster skates at Zagreb. I wonder if she has motivation to continue or is the injury still affecting her, is it lack of experience or what. But now we can be quite sure that she cannot be even a substitute for Euros. Her TES is painful to watch, even an invalid spin and only 2A and 3T+2T had +GOES. She needs to do better, with skates like this I am not sure how long they allow her to be in the national team. I hope she still gets her shape back. Even the step and spin level has not been what she usually gets, so it would be interesting to see what happened. I edit this post if there will anything about this at Fed's sites. Sometimes they keep it quiet after disaster, or the skater does not want to be interviewed.

Edit: No interview. The fed tells about the same I just wrote. They explain it by injury and lack of comps.

 

[norwegianfairytale]

So, Finnish Nationals and Swedish Nationals is this upcoming weekend? Will be exciting to see the results and who they select for EC after that.

I don´t think it will be surprises though, I´m guessing Andreas and Josefin for Sweden, the Crawford twins, Janna and Valtter and the two Ice Dance Team for Finland? Did I forget someone? Nikolaj Majorov hasn´t been able to come close to Andreas scores this season... I don´t think any of the other senior ladies have come close to Josefin as well.

They announced the spots for Norwegian Nationals this weekend, and Maria and James wasn´t on the list. From their recent Instagram-post, they are back in NY training, so I guess they went straight back to US and won´t be at Nationals because they will train in the US until EC. It makes perfect sense, and I understand the need to be at the ice rink with their coach before such an important event. It makes me think though that Norway should consider having Nationals in December as well, that would have perhaps made it easier for Maria and James to participate at Nationals.

The American/Norwegian skater Jan William Eraker got a senior spot at Nationals, I wasn´t sure he had the requirements that was needed, so that will be nice to have a senior male skater at Nationals again! Francis Sutton also got a spot in junior, which probably means he will try to be back for Nationals after his injury. I´m happy about that, and hope he is healthy enough for that, and Daniil Valanov will compete in Advanced Novice. So we will will have Nationals with male skaters in both senior, junior and novice category!

 

[TT_Fin]

Only 1 ID spot for Finland to Euros. Juulia, Juho and Yuka had corona so there was no team in Tallinn in January. But as we know the rules, the team will be Valtter, Janna and T/V. I don't think anybody could get enough high scores in nats to go ahead Janna or Valtter. Makar needs about 215 and women next behind Janna need about 200 or more to do it, but Janna and Valtter can also get better scores if they skate clean.

 

[TT_Fin]

I posted just Finland's Result page to nationals thread, but here also.

Emmi is not taking part and also Linnea Ceder is missing from the list . So there will be all new medalists in women, because none of the participants have not senior medals yet and some of them are competing at seniors for the first time. It seems there is no substitutes, as there are only 12/15 competitors now.

But 8 men, I like it. It is a competition now. I hope this raises the level overall in Finland.

 

[ladyjane]

I hope so too, because eventually that may get more Finnish skaters at Europeans and Worlds!

 

[TT_Fin]

Reason Emmi's WD from nats is she hasn't still fully recovered after corona and Linnea WDs because she suffers from an overload condition of the body.

 

[norwegianfairytale]

A little bit surprised to see that Emilie Ling is the new Swedish National Champion, just beating Josefin Taljegård with 00.38 points..

All though, I would guess Josefin recent result from this season will give her the Euros spot?

 

[TT_Fin]

Has Sweden confirmed their EC team yet?

Finland's is as expected, Janna, Valtter, Juulia&Matthias and subsitutes are in women Oona Ounasvuori and Nella Pelkonen, in men Makar Suntsev and of in dance, of course, Yuka and Juho. Oona had a disaster FS at nationals, but it goes how rules are and her two best scores are the next best because it seems Linnea, who is ahead of her, is still not skating.

Minja Peltonen had a great skate at nationals. She had some Urs, but almost clean 3lz-3lo and no big mistakes. They haven't announced the Nordic team when I write this. Maybe difficult decision. I found some file about choosing skaters and read from it that skaters who are eligible in both juniors and seniors can choose themselves which one they prefer. Universiades should be announced soon, but it is not just Figure skating federation but Finland's olympic committee also who make decisions. No idea, if there are skaters who are university students, because on the list still are high school students.