Practice Reports

[mariposa]

I'm hoping someone has some practice reports from senior ladies...very interested to see how it pans out...I haven't heard a thing about Charbonneau so she's got my curiosity going. Najarro is one of the favourites here as well as Osmond and it's going to be interesting to see who holds it together. I was also surprised to see Jessica Dube competing here. I thought she was concentrating on pairs. I don't think any one of the above mentioned has all five triples? Can't wait 'til nationals!!!

 

[gopatrick]

We can jump right to the competition...

Just peek in for several ladies' short programs.
Najarro had a disasterous one, popped one and felt on another triple, single the axel 33+pt.
Kaleigh Hole was more than heart-breaking by her MJ, no jump with 2 falls on take-off. Like her speed across the ice though.
Jessica Dube had a small step out on 3lz-2t with 2s, 2a and beautiful skating as usual.

I wonder whether the ice surface was too hard during the first couple groups, several skaters had skits here and there, especially for those with good speed.

Charbonneau looked smooth but slow to me, didn't watch her program all the way, but definitely not a good one from her, fell on an under-rotated jump.

 

[thumbyskates]

I think Kaleigh's was the most heartbreaking program I've ever seen Wow.

Wondering if anyone watching knows who is in 1st at present - I know it's not quite done. I'm too impatient to wait for results to be posted

 

[SubRosa]

With one flight to go:

1. Jessica Dube
2. Kaetlyn Osmond
3. Kate Charbonneau

Scores have been in the 30's and 40's. On the whole, lots of splats, not many completed triples. :disapp:

 

[nadster]

The SP is over and Alexandra Gagnon won. She had a relatively clean program although the landings of her jumps were just a wee bit too low. She landed lutz and loop. BTW, she could go to JW this year.

Overall the SPs were poorly skated. Hope for better in the free.

 

[martipellow2]

Thanks for your report. Does that mean that Najarro won't qualify for Nationals? That's shocking. How many of the skaters get to go?

We can jump right to the competition...

Just peek in for several ladies' short programs.
Najarro had a disasterous one, popped one and felt on another triple, single the axel 33+pt.
Kaleigh Hole was more than heart-breaking by her MJ, no jump with 2 falls on take-off. Like her speed across the ice though.
Jessica Dube had a small step out on 3lz-2t with 2s, 2a and beautiful skating as usual.

I wonder whether the ice surface was too hard during the first couple groups, several skaters had skits here and there, especially for those with good speed.

Charbonneau looked smooth but slow to me, didn't watch her Swan program all the way, but definitely not a good one from her, fell on an under-rotated jump.

 

[nadster]

Thanks for your report. Does that mean that Najarro won't qualify for Nationals? That's shocking. How many of the skaters get to go?

Assuming that Samson will not show up at nationals, the top 15 ( 18 - the byed skaters ( Phaneuf, Lacoste , Desantis ) ) will go to nationals. Samson does have a direct bye to nationals should she choose to show up because of her medal at the last nationals. So if Samson decides to show up for nationals ( unlikely ) only the top 14 go through.


Najarro is in 29th after the short, about 6 points behind 15th place. Big movements are possible as the ladies are all inconsistent. But Najarro would have to have an amazing FS to get in the top 15.

 

[gopatrick]

I was very impressed by Kaleigh's fought-back performance this afternoon.
Even though she just landed three (sounds a lot in canadian ladies already) easy triples in her Tango program, she had great flow and speed in and out. She has very smooth stroking and is able to accelerate effortlessly. If she can find the consistency of the timing and techic on her jumps, we might have another Kostner. Frankly, I looked into her LP just for the curiosity what might follow a heart-breaking SP, but she turned me into a fan. Good luck in the years to come!

Najarro had a better effort than her LP. She's a beautiful skate but still struggling with the jumps somewhat, fell on 3F then popped a loop.

You really don't know what will turn out at the end on the slippery ice.

 

[katia]

Gopatrick
I read your post and just watched Kaleigh long program. I am impressed. She got another fan.

 

[nadster]

I too was impressed with Osmond despite the errors. Congratulations on winning the challenge. I think she has the frontrunner seat for the JW spot.

Next season could be a great season for her to shine internationally. She will be able to do JGP next year and the flip ( a jump she does very well ) will be the key jump next year. The other thing is if she can land a triple-triple as well ( she at least fully rotated it in the short ) she might even get into top 3 country land for JW 2013.

I hope Osmond ( if chosen ) can finish top 10 at JW. I don't expect her to finish top 3 countries ( ie 14 JGP spots ) but hopefully she can finish among countries 4-6 ( 7 JGP spots an improvement over the 4 we had this year ).

What is really exciting about the ladies is not so much the senior ranks but seeing triple lutzes landed by some of the novices and the improved jump content overall of the juniors. We really have proabably the deepest field of JW girls to choose from next year. Which is why I hope the number of JGP spots next year is maximized.

Sorry I mixed up Hole with Osmond in version 1 of this post. Like Hole's comeback so that she gets a ticket to nationals.

 

[skatingfan04]

Despite a couple of errors, a beautiful comeback by Najarro. I LOVE that program. She has a ton of elegance and fluidity through her back, arms and hands. Her hands were doing all sorts of pretty things that matched the beats of the music perfectly. She has great expression, too. If she can get her jumping on track, she could be a real threat again at Nationals this year. Good for her!

And good for Kaleigh Hole!! Her SP was heartbreaking, and how wonderful for her to fight back and qualify for nationals. I always liked her as a pair skater, but she's a lovely singles skater as well.

 

[gopatrick]

For the men, well, not a well-skated event, but that's ok. Most guys skated better at the Challege than at the Nationals last year, hopefully, it would be the reversed this year.

Jeremy Ten is the only one cracked into 60s with 2 falls, one on 3A and one on 3lz-3t. I can feel Maxim Billy-Fortin really enjoys his SP music, none of his jumps was clean but very uplifting performance. Last year, I was impressed by Charles Dion's glasses; this year, I was impressed by his speed. He still has some jumping technique and stimina issues needed to be addressed though. P.S. I feel very painful to see a guy holding in a donut position for 8 revolutions, good for him
These three are the top three in the SP.

I think Shaquille Davis went for a 4S?!!!! Even though it must be downgraded, good for him! The only quad I remembered landed in the Challenge was in 2007/8, by Maxime Billy-Fortin, beautifully right in front of me

I missed most of the guys including Nguyen and Firus.

 

[nadster]

Firus had major problems with his spins in the short. He messed up 2 of his spins badly. In fact his last spin was not counted ( was forced to abort due to balance issues) . He had minor landing issues on the 3F-3T combo although the combo had great ice coverage and fell on the lutz.

Nguyen went for the triple axel and stood up but the jump was nowhere close to rotated. It was a typical Nguyen performance with a minor UR issue on the combo. I really hope he gets away from Mcleod as he is by far the most talented of our men coming up and I fear he will eventually stagnate under Joanne.

 

[Violet Bliss]

Can somebody explain J10's twitter:

3r3bear: That was an odd short. I only wanted to do a 3T but apparantly my body wanted to go for a quad...

j3r3bear: Definitely not how I wanted to win the short program. Glad my love for skating shined through. Looking ahead to tomorrow.

 

[martipellow2]

Despite a couple of errors, a beautiful comeback by Najarro. I LOVE that program. She has a ton of elegance and fluidity through her back, arms and hands. Her hands were doing all sorts of pretty things that matched the beats of the music perfectly. She has great expression, too. If she can get her jumping on track, she could be a real threat again at Nationals this year. Good for her!

And good for Kaleigh Hole!! Her SP was heartbreaking, and how wonderful for her to fight back and qualify for nationals. I always liked her as a pair skater, but she's a lovely singles skater as well.

I think Najarro is great too, but am not getting my hopes up, as she is so up and down. I think she's turning into the Alissa Czisny of Canadian skating. But then, eventually, after many years, Czisny became more consistent, so hopefully if Najarro sticks around long enough, she will eventually develop consistency. I can't understand why she has a loop in her program, as she never seems to land it in competition. On the other hand, she had a lutz and a flip cleanly landed in her short at sectionals, I wonder why she doesn't put the lutz into her long. She was very unlucky to miss out on the final of the World Juniors last year, and I think that hurt her confidence. Missing Nationals would have been devastating. Hopefully this amazing comeback, 29th to 5th, will boost her confidence, and finally landing the toe loop -- she has been missing it all year. What a great comeback.

Alexandra Gagnon was great, but how unusual to only have a lutz and a loop, and none of the easier triples!

 

[thumbyskates]

Can somebody explain J10's twitter:

3r3bear: That was an odd short. I only wanted to do a 3T but apparantly my body wanted to go for a quad...

j3r3bear: Definitely not how I wanted to win the short program. Glad my love for skating shined through. Looking ahead to tomorrow.

He over-rotated the second triple toe in his triple/triple combination. He fell on the jump after over-rotating it and he also fell on his triple axel attempt...so far from clean program. However, overall the program was lovely and scored well in PCS, as it should have. So he was probably just not pleased with how he skated in terms of jumps, but glad that he still managed the rest of the program so well.

Here's his skate: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/18912366

 

[Violet Bliss]

Thanks for the explanation and the video. I like this music and program very much. The jumps are problematic but they should improve with more training considering he was off ice for so long. His skating, though, is definitely very Senior, with speed and ice coverage, good footwork and musicality. I forgot how I liked his style. :thumbsup: Jeremy is an artist who needs a technical upgrade to compete with the top guys.

I like the new hair too. I think it's a result of his brother's girlfriend leaving her blow dryer behind and Jeremy trying it out, leading to a new 'do which seems to stick.

 

[gopatrick]

Wow, Shaquille went for another 4S!:thumbsup: Bravo, much better attempt, still under-rotated though.

Jeremy just had a heart-melting Postman LP Love the whole package. We have a BC sweep on the podiums: Jeremy, Liam, and Nam. I hope Nam would start to pay more attention on his posture and basics, spending some time with W/L is not a bad idea. Isn't Scott Davis also located near the west coast? Both Jeremy and Liam have beautiful skating qualities, but in order to compete internationally, they do need the jumps.
I hope Shaquille can pull it together on the other side of the scale.

Big jumps or skating quality, why not both yeah, I've been spoiled by Patrick:

 

[mmcdermott]

So which of the men are worth watching? I've only seen Jeremy Ten before...

I wonder why Jessica Dubé continues to skate singles ... does anyone have a clue? To get more practice with her solo jumps? As a back-up in case her pairs partnership doesn't work out? Just because she enjoys it? (I don't know, just randomly speculating ).

 

[geoskate]

Not sure why Jessica continues to skate singles, but there are quite a few other pairs skaters who also do that. Examples are Julianne Seguin (of Seguin/Andrews, who were 2nd at Challenge; Julianne also won the junior ladies at Challenge), Brittany Jones (of Jones/Gaskell, 6th at Canadians last season; she also qualified for Canadians in junior), both Natasha Purich and Raymond Schultz (of Purich/Schultz, last season's junior champions; she qualifed 13th in senior for Canadians, while he missed qualifying) and both Alexie Gelinas and David Struthers (of Gelinas/Struthers, 10th at Canadians last season; he qualified 11th in seniors, and she is the first substitute for senior ladies and probably will also go to Canadians in senior).

I think some of them do it to gain more experience with jumps in a program, or to have more experience of skating in competition.

It's unusual to see that for pairs skaters who have been top 10 in the world in pairs, however.