Reports and impressions from Madrid

[Sylvia]

Hi! this is my first post here, and I wanted to tell you a bit of the JGP in Madrid, I was a volunteer there.

In my opinion the russian victory was well deserved, they made good programs, and the Free Dance was just amazing :agree:

Shibutanis had a good competition too, but in the Free Dance Alex had a little mistake.

I didn't see bad judging in this GP, the results were quite fair.

BTW recording was not allowed, so I think it'll be difficult finding vids. I only made one of a Murakami's jump in the Ex. And a friend made one in the Ex too, but no more

But if you want to know something I can answer you, I saw the whole competition (except the Men's SP, I just saw the 1st group) and a lot of trainings

I can write a bit of every part of the event, but I can't remember every program... 21 ice dancing pairs (CD+OD+FD) + 36 ladies (SP+LP) + 31 men (LP) you'll be lucky if I can remember a single music
The OD was about the 20's... Charleston above all

But I'll try my best Tomorrow, now it's late

And thanks for the welcome

Welcome to Golden Skate, sigrid! I thought it might be nice to have a separate discussion thread for you and anyone else who was lucky enough to attend in person and/or volunteer at this competition.

Which men and ladies did you enjoy watching in training (practice) and in competition? Would you like to tell us about your favorite programs?

Gracias!

 

[sigrid]

Thank you Sylvia!

Well I can tell you about the competition, and also about the "backstage"

I'll start by Men's competition.

I was so impressed by Armin (The US guy, sorry, but his surname is impossible ) I didn't see his SP but everybody told me that it was very good. His LP was also good, a few little mistakes, but with a so strong SP, and some mistakes of his rivals, the victory was quite easy.
He is very nice and I could take a pic with him during the gala

The second position, was for Artur Gachinski, the Mishin's skater. His SP was quite bad, and Mishin was very angry after that (And after a little problem in the hotel)
But the LP was almost perfect, I just can remember a triple loop, that he singled.
His SP was bad enough for not finishing in 1st position.
His 3A are quite good, even he made one in the Ex.
Was quite funny during the podium, after seeing Mishin very serious during the GP, he seemed Artur's dad while the medals ceremony. Taking hundreds of pics of his guy with the medal, even Ottavio Cinquanta posed for a photo watching that he was between Artur and the camera

The third position was for the Japanese Machida (for us he was mini-Takahashi )
His LP wasn't good, he started with a fall in the 3A, and some other mistakes followed it. His SP was great, but the LP...
I took a pic with him in gala too, he seemed very shy

Who impressed everybody after a disappointing SP was Javier Fernández.
His SP was one of the 5 I could see, and he was not very concentrated. After seeing lots of his perfects 3A in trainings, in the SP he had problems with it, and he had more mistakes, finishing in 10th position.
But the "Matrix" LP was amazing. A huge 3A opened it, and only 2 hands in the ice after a 3lz and a doubled 3F were his problems. As can you imagine, the people went crazy when he finished, and when he was in the 1st position with 6 skaters left, I thought the ice-rink would collapse with so many noise
He finished 4th, and less than 2 points separated him from the bronze. Anyway he was happy.
off-ice he is really really funny and crazy

Another guy who impressed me a lot was William Brewster in the LP. It was almost perfect, and he got a big ovation from the audience. It's funny seeing how his face finish as red as his hair after a program
He seemed very shy too, but he was thankful when the volunteers congratulated him for his LP. Even I took a pic of him with the Ice-rink's doctor

Spaniard Javier Raya was very elegant during his programs, for me, he was one of the biggest discoveries of this JGP for me :thumbsup:

Laurent Álvarez, from Switzerland was great too, I like a lot the choreo, it's 100% Salome Brunner (who talked to me in a quite good spanish during the GP )
Peter Grütter told me that Laurent was not in his best moment, he needs to train a bit more (BTW Salome and Peter are totally lovely)

And the poor Boyito Mulder, from the Netherlands... his name in spanish means "Little cake" and everybody joked about it


if you want to ask something perhaps I can answer you


oh, and excuse me if there are mistakes in the post, I try to improve my english everyday

 

[dorispulaski]

Your English is wonderful and your report very, very much appreciated!! Thank you

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

sigrid - Did you agree with the results? I like your descriptive writing.

Any news of a youtube showing? I'd like to see all the boys.

 

[lmarie086]

Great reports, sigrid! Very informative. And your English is very good as well!

 

[oleada]

Thank you so much, sigrid! Your reports are great

And the poor Boyito Mulder, from the Netherlands... his name in spanish means "Little cake" and everybody joked about it

He should be thankful he wasn't in Colombia - in Colombian Spanish slang boyito is something entirely more unpleasant.

 

[Sylvia]

Any news of a youtube showing? I'd like to see all the boys.

sigrid mentioned that she was too busy volunteering to be able to record any skating (see her earlier post, quoted below).

Well obviously you understand about Ice dancing much more than me (it's my less favourite category) I trust in your CD and OD impressions because I don't see the edges, timing and other mistakes yet :banging: but in the FD the russian pair really deserved the victory.

It's not only my opinion, most of the people there were agree and applauded a lot when they won the event.

Shibutanis are very young, and a silver is a great result right now :agree:

I really hope someone recorded a bit, because for me was totally impossible recording while I was opening the rink's doors to the skaters

icedanceexpert I'm glad you've enjoyed here. The volunteers did our best, and we want to improve the next year if the GP comes back. At least Peter Grütter told me that he enjoyed here and he wanted to come back

 

[Sylvia]

Thank you so much, sigrid, for taking the time and effort to share your impressions! Your written English is quite good, so please keep going!

Another guy who impressed me a lot was William Brewster in the LP. It was almost perfect, and he got a big ovation from the audience. It's funny seeing how his face finish as red as his hair after a program
He seemed very shy too, but he was thankful when the volunteers congratulated him for his LP.

This was Brewster's first-ever JGP and I'm glad he got this chance (and performed his free skate much better than his SP) because he's 18 now and ages out after this season. And, yes, his face does get as red as his hair when he's skating hard.

Please continue your report with your impressions of the ladies when you get a chance. Many thanks!

 

[sigrid]

Thanks everybody for the nice words

well Joesitz I can say that I'm agree with the results. Armin deserved the victory after a great program and a good one, he was the most regular.
I'd like to see (and everybody in the rink) Javier Fernandez getting a medal, but his SP was not good at all, Machida was better than him.

Like Sylvia said, recording was not allowed, so I think it'll be difficult finding vids...


I'll continue with ladies when I can

 

[sigrid]

Ok, it was a loooong time since I promised the ladies report, but uni is driving me crazy.


Let's see...


Kristine Musademba, from the USA won the event, and I think it was fair She had some troubles in the SP. She surprised me because she started with a spin, but she hadn't good luck with jumps. But she solved the SP's problem with the LP. It was not perfect (a fall in the first jump) but it was one of the most complete LPs of the night. I'm glad of her victory, coz I think she's a nice girl It was funny, coz come volunteers spoke english better than me, but I don't know why, Kristine always asked things to me The gala day I congratulated her for her victory and I asked her a picture, she was so kind

Becky Bereswill had the same problem as Kristine. A bad SP but a good LP. IMO she got some extra points in the SP, but not too much, don't worry The LP had some mistakes too, but it was beautiful, she has a great style skating, very elegant Later I joked with some other volunteers saying that she was "very Disney" ;D I mean, she was always smiling, and she is very nice with everybody, so she was like the typical actress in a Disney movie uh! and talking about typical things, Becky keeps from Madrid the menus of some restaurants because she said that she likes to have that kind of things, and she found them "very typical"
(in the gala was almost impossible having a picture with her, because when the Gala finished, lots of kinds went running to the ice-rink for having a picture with her. Was funny finding Becky surrounded by hundreds of kids and taking pics with everybody )

The third position was for my lovely (ok, I'm not unbiased) Kanako Murakami. She won the heart of the audience with a good and cheerful SP. I love the way she jumps, maybe I'm wrong but she reminds me a bit of Mao Asada. In the LP she was the last skater, and everybody knew that with a clean program, she would win. But 2 simples and some other mistakes spoiled her beautiful program. Anyway, when she finished in the 3rd position, she continued smiling like the rest of the days It's incredible how she keeps the smile in every moment. A very kind girl as well, everybody wanted a pic with her, and her autograph is so funny, because she draws a kind of house next to her name She showed us a biiiiig smile when I said to her "domo arigato" after our pic together she was sooooo cute and I hope she can continue improving, her future is amazing.
uh! and everybody was joking all the time with her, above all the day of the exhibition, with her cute orange costume

Ok I wanted Kanako to win, but I think the podium was fair
I took this pic:

http://img150.imageshack.us/my.php?image=podiumfem2eu6.jpg


Ksenia Makarova did a great job in the SP, her combo was great and the whole program was interesting. In the LP the things were not as perfect as in the SP, in fact it was a disaster... doubled a 3F, fell once, hands down... A big pity after a so great SP. She was very nice too I welcomed her in the hotel BTW she didn't know the abbreviations of her technical elements... and her coach neither. After along time thinking, another coach helped them to write them
uhhh! and I should call her Ksenia "Macarena" in the gala, the skaters finished dancing "Macarena" and Ksenia was the best dancer (she knew the steps better than the spaniards hahaha)


I would like to tell you that the most applauded LP was the one performed by the swedish Emanuelsson. It was almost perfect

Sonia Lafuente had a bad day in the SP but she improved it in the LP. perhaps her score in the LP was a bit low...


And I that's all from the Ladies' event, If you want to ask something I'm here