My guess is that since Tim is German, and neither skater is Spanish, that it was assumed that they would skate for Germany. The article from the first link is also in German to my knowledge.
If it is easier to get citizenship for Spain and hard to obtain for Germany, than Spain would make more sense.
For that reason alone, I would prefer to see them skating for Germany. That said, in an ideal world, I would want to see them representing Team GB. But, that doesn't seem to be on the table.
I would like to see somebody challenging Lilah and Lewis to be top dogs in the British Ice Dance team. The British are reknown for supporting underdogs and, as you all know, I take that to a different level! I liked Lilah and Lewis when they were underdogs. But now that they are not, I have to admit that I have gone off them.
Even if Olivia and Tim don't come to us, I would say it will not be long until Phebe and James turn Senior. And hopefully they will start providing real competition to Lilah and Lewis. (I really like Phebe and James!)
https://www.ksta.de/koeln/koelner-i...nz-elite-zeigt-kueren-auf-dem-heumarkt-383975
English translation is available.
The article mentions a younger ice dance team, Sofia Val and Alexander Gnedin, apparently coached by Sara H & Kirill K. She's Spanish, and he's Russian, apparently skating for Spain.
Yep, that was announced by Sara back in June (see
this post from
@Lili1122 in
last season's Partner Changes thread). But, in the interview, she said that Sofía and Sasha would be competing in Juniors. Since we haven't heard anything about them since then, I was starting to think it had fallen through. Hence why I haven't started a Fan Fest thread for them yet.
HOWEVER, the article you linked to says that Sofía is skating with a different Russian, Asaf KAZIMOV (
ISU Bio with Viktoriia LOPUSOVA). Asaf has been representing Germany for the past 5 seasons, since the 2017-18 Season. During this time, he had 2 seasons in Juniors partnering Germany's Lara LUFT; and then 3 seasons (2 in Juniors, 1 in Seniors) partnering his fellow Russian Viktoriia LOPUSOVA.
Kazimov is 22 now, so he is too old for Juniors. They will have to go into Seniors.
So the German and Spanish Feds may have done a deal. Spain gives Olivia Smart (GBR) to Germany to partner their boy Tim Dieck; and in return Germany gives Asaf Kazimov (RUS) to Spain to partner their girl Sofía Val.
- Olivia Smart (GBR) / Tim Dieck (DEU) to represent Germany.
- Sofía Val (ESP) / Asaf Kazimov (RUS) to represent Spain.
Sounds like a sensible arrangement to me!
Either way, it looks like I was right to hold back in creating a Fan Fest for Val / Gnedin!
CaroLiza_fan
I wish them all the best, no matter which country they choose.
Well done, Tim with an 'e'.
