I had an amazing weekend at the Canadian Championships! There were disappointments, surprises, and sensational thrills all around! I got to high-five the pairs medallists and got my picture taken with Asher Hill. I watched Weaver and Poje do a program run-through in their track pants. I saw Amelie Lacoste an Myriane Samson watch the first flight of their events from the stands. Most of the events delivered in the excitement category and it finished with thrilling back-to-back performances from Shawn Sawyer and Patrick Chan.
Yesterday it was back to reality for me as I came home and got back on the ice, only to recall that I can't skate nearly as well as the skaters I was admiring all weekend. Sigh.
With the Christmas holidays and the preparation for Canadians, I haven't done much blogging about my own skating. It's been up and down. I didn't get to skate much during the holiday and although the break was good for my joints it wasn't terribly good for my jumps and spins. I had some real inability to do camel spins and back sit spins there for a while, but they seem to have returned somewhat. I've been building back up my confidence in my jumps and working on better speed and technique. My spirals are not too bad and I can do pretty good leg pulls on forward or backward edges. My three turns are still a bit wobbly especially backward insides (I hate those ones). I started learning Jr. Bronze Skills and the coach teaches it a bit different than the pattern posted on the Skate Canada website.
My program is coming together although it has been a month since my coach cut the music and we still haven't finished choreographing it! 2:39 is actually a lot of time to fill. I'm registered in a competition in just under a month so I would like to get it finished. Although, I just found out there's only one other woman in my category so that's kind of taking the excitement out of it for me. I'm sewing my own dress and I just have to make some small tweaks here and there, then put some decorations on it and it will be done.
I signed up for an adult ballet class thinking it would be good for my posture and flexibility, but I hurt my foot in the second class and I'm not really enjoying it as much as I hoped I would. Good thing the instructor is a childhood friend of mine and such a good teacher, that I will stick it out. Plus I want my money's worth :P
On Thursday we are having a competition simulation that I will attend. It should be interesting because my dress and program are not finished! I hope it is not too embarrassing!
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Canadian Championships Preview Part 4 : Dance Event
Let's Dance!
Well we all know now that Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir withdrew from the event. On the one hand I'm disappointed that I won't get to see them and whoever wins the competition will forever have an asterisk next to their name (figuratively speaking) that the top team didn't compete. On the other hand, nobody wants to watch Tessa and Scott come out on to the ice and suck because of all the time off of training they've had and if there is nothing at stake (is there? do they really need to qualify for worlds? anyone?) why compete before they are ready?
So, onward to the competition. Here are the top contenders:
'Rank' Pair GP best 2010
1 Vanessa Crone/ Paul Poirier 154.42
2 Kaitlyn Weaver/ Andrew Poje 142.32
3 Kharis Ralph/ Asher Hill 121.39
4 Sarah Arnold/ Justin Trojek 107.64
5 Alexandra Paul/ Mitchell Islam 138.16
I'll admit that I'm not such a great judge of dance at this level. I'm one of those people who thinks all the teams are exceptional skaters and I find it really hard to differentiate who deserves the highest scores. At least this makes it a delightful event to watch because every team does a great job unless they make an obvious mistake. Fortunately I have some past scores to go by!
Let's start with Crone and Poirier. These Olympians had a great GP season receiving all the colours of the podium rainbow at their three events. I've heard a lot of negative review of their short dance, but I actually quite like it. Not only does it start with a breathtaking upside-down lift, it features one single piece of music and not weird combinations of cheesy tunes or tangos like so many of the short dances have this season. In contrast, everyone seems to love their free dance to Elenor Rigby but I complain that it has too many crossovers, so go figure. Otherwise I like the program and it has some tough lifts. If they can avoid silly falls and stuff like that they will be fighting it out for top spot. Oh, and I'm not sure if it factors in to the judging but they're an attractive pair in my opinion!
Weaver and Poje also had a pretty good season and are probably the biggest threat to an easy gold for Crone/Poirier. They won a silver medal at NHK trophy this year and slipped to 4th at Skate America. They qualified for the GP final and finished less than 4 points behind Crone/Poirier. They've been on the podium the last 4 years at this event and while they've never won it, it should be an exciting battle.
Ralph and Hill are positively adorable in their short dance (which is totally cheesy) but bring a more elegant look to their free dance which is a unique rendition on 'Summertime' by Senie. Umm plus he's totally hot. Anyway as for their skating their scores indicate that they are a bit outclassed by the other teams but that's not too surprising because this was their first GP season at the senior level. They raked in 4 silver medals on the JGP circuit in two seasons and are the Canadian Junior champions in 2008, so they are a real team-of-the-future.
Arnold and Trojek: They competed at Skate Canada and while their scores weren't great I admit I am a real sucker for their Amelie free dance music and think the program is really nice. Looking at the Protocol sheet from Skate Canada, some of the difficulty levels are not that high and GOE's are mostly neutral. Also their components are low which I'm learning to interpret as the judges saying "you need to spend more time at the senior level before we will give you higher PC Scores!" And, just like many of our pair teams they are a new pairing. Last year was their first time at this event and they placed tenth.
Paul and Islam are nice to watch. They have a fun tango in their short dance (and yes, I'm sick of tangos). I think they are a good calibre team but just had some bad luck this GP season. A fall in their short dance at the Cup of Russia cost them big time and then they withdrew from the event. I don't know why, but if it was because of injury I hope they are recovered from it. Based on their score from Skate Canada though they will challenge for 3rd or even 2nd place. At Skate Canada they had a slip on the Golden Waltz and received only level 2 for it as well as negative GOE (harsh for one slip, no?) which really hurt them but they came back big time with the second-best free dance, a rather elegant one and they got a standing ovation. Watch for their unique arm movements in their synchronized twizzles!
And that's a wrap! I wish I had time to review all the competitors but there just aren't enough hours in the day. The competition starts tomorrow at 1:15 PST and I'll be there!
Well we all know now that Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir withdrew from the event. On the one hand I'm disappointed that I won't get to see them and whoever wins the competition will forever have an asterisk next to their name (figuratively speaking) that the top team didn't compete. On the other hand, nobody wants to watch Tessa and Scott come out on to the ice and suck because of all the time off of training they've had and if there is nothing at stake (is there? do they really need to qualify for worlds? anyone?) why compete before they are ready?
So, onward to the competition. Here are the top contenders:
'Rank' Pair GP best 2010
1 Vanessa Crone/ Paul Poirier 154.42
2 Kaitlyn Weaver/ Andrew Poje 142.32
3 Kharis Ralph/ Asher Hill 121.39
4 Sarah Arnold/ Justin Trojek 107.64
5 Alexandra Paul/ Mitchell Islam 138.16
I'll admit that I'm not such a great judge of dance at this level. I'm one of those people who thinks all the teams are exceptional skaters and I find it really hard to differentiate who deserves the highest scores. At least this makes it a delightful event to watch because every team does a great job unless they make an obvious mistake. Fortunately I have some past scores to go by!
Let's start with Crone and Poirier. These Olympians had a great GP season receiving all the colours of the podium rainbow at their three events. I've heard a lot of negative review of their short dance, but I actually quite like it. Not only does it start with a breathtaking upside-down lift, it features one single piece of music and not weird combinations of cheesy tunes or tangos like so many of the short dances have this season. In contrast, everyone seems to love their free dance to Elenor Rigby but I complain that it has too many crossovers, so go figure. Otherwise I like the program and it has some tough lifts. If they can avoid silly falls and stuff like that they will be fighting it out for top spot. Oh, and I'm not sure if it factors in to the judging but they're an attractive pair in my opinion!
Weaver and Poje also had a pretty good season and are probably the biggest threat to an easy gold for Crone/Poirier. They won a silver medal at NHK trophy this year and slipped to 4th at Skate America. They qualified for the GP final and finished less than 4 points behind Crone/Poirier. They've been on the podium the last 4 years at this event and while they've never won it, it should be an exciting battle.
Ralph and Hill are positively adorable in their short dance (which is totally cheesy) but bring a more elegant look to their free dance which is a unique rendition on 'Summertime' by Senie. Umm plus he's totally hot. Anyway as for their skating their scores indicate that they are a bit outclassed by the other teams but that's not too surprising because this was their first GP season at the senior level. They raked in 4 silver medals on the JGP circuit in two seasons and are the Canadian Junior champions in 2008, so they are a real team-of-the-future.
Arnold and Trojek: They competed at Skate Canada and while their scores weren't great I admit I am a real sucker for their Amelie free dance music and think the program is really nice. Looking at the Protocol sheet from Skate Canada, some of the difficulty levels are not that high and GOE's are mostly neutral. Also their components are low which I'm learning to interpret as the judges saying "you need to spend more time at the senior level before we will give you higher PC Scores!" And, just like many of our pair teams they are a new pairing. Last year was their first time at this event and they placed tenth.
Paul and Islam are nice to watch. They have a fun tango in their short dance (and yes, I'm sick of tangos). I think they are a good calibre team but just had some bad luck this GP season. A fall in their short dance at the Cup of Russia cost them big time and then they withdrew from the event. I don't know why, but if it was because of injury I hope they are recovered from it. Based on their score from Skate Canada though they will challenge for 3rd or even 2nd place. At Skate Canada they had a slip on the Golden Waltz and received only level 2 for it as well as negative GOE (harsh for one slip, no?) which really hurt them but they came back big time with the second-best free dance, a rather elegant one and they got a standing ovation. Watch for their unique arm movements in their synchronized twizzles!
And that's a wrap! I wish I had time to review all the competitors but there just aren't enough hours in the day. The competition starts tomorrow at 1:15 PST and I'll be there!
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Canadian Championships Preview Part 3 : Pairs Event
Alright moving onward to Pairs. Without last year's two teams, the competition is wide open but not particularly strong in my opinion. There are only ten entries, I'm not sure why so few. Either that's just how many teams are actually good enough to compete at this level or they just don't want as many competitors. Anyway, according to the starting order here are our top 4:
'Rank' Pair Best GP Score this year
1 Mylene Brodeur/ John Mattatall 151.97 at NHK Trophy
2 Kirsten Moore-Toweres/ Dylan Moscovitch 175.48 at Skate America
3 Paige Lawrence/ Rudi Swiegers 161.15 at Skate Canada
4 Kaleigh Hole/ Adam Johnson 115.15 At Cup of China
But I'm not sure what Skate Canada is thinking because Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford are listed below this group in 6th but they are certainly better than Hole/Johnson so I will comment on them also.
Duhamel and Radford are a really new team, only together since spring of 2010. They scored 158.53 at Skate Canada and 166.76 at the East/West Challenge Qualifying event in December, and this definitely makes them podium material. For such a new team they look fabulous and are fun to watch especially when they nail their technical content (which is formidable). They were far and away the best team at the qualifier and you could tell just by watching them do crossovers. These two could really march in and take the title by surprise!
Brodeur and Mattatall had kind of an OK GP season. A disappointing 6th place finish was improved upon with a 4th place finish at Trophee Eric Bompard, but remember there were only 7 teams at that event and 3 of them had some pretty serious fails so take it with a grain of salt. However they have been at this event 4 times before and they were 3rd in 2009 so they are certainly a team to watch. I'm just not sure they deserve 'top ranking', if, in fact, that is what is meant by starting last. If I don't sound real jazzed about them I guess I should be fair and point out that I've only seen this year's GP skates and they weren't perfect, so if they bring their A-game, watch out.
Moore-Towers and Moscovitch are going to make it hard for the other teams to make a surprise splash though. This GP season they got great scores even when they made errors so maybe it is time for them to have their turn at being the judges' favourites. They haven't been together particularly long and this is only their second time at Nationals together (they were 5th last year). However they had an amazing GP season this year winning two silver medals and qualifying for the final (where they were at last seriously outclassed by the likes of the Germans and the Chinese). I might be the only one that isn't mesmerized by their Les Mis program but I do love their difficult lift at the end where he rises up from a lunge. Ouch! And you gotta love her infectious smile.
Now Lawrence and Swiegers are a pair actually going back to 2005 and they placed 2nd at the Junior Nationals in 2008. They scored a bronze medal at Skate Canada and have two very entertaining programs this year. The SP is a very silly/cute routine to City Slickers and the LP is to the Van Helsing soundtrack with some vampire stuff thrown in for kicks. They seem like kind of a sassy duo and I'd love to see them come on strong and make this a good competition.
Hole and Johnson represent a big step down in the competition in my opinion, and it probably drops off from there. OK to be fair it looks like they are ALSO a relatively fresh pairing with only one complete season as a pair under their belts apparently. But their Cup of China performance was wince-worthy and their East/West Challenge FS was...well....pretty much disastrous. (I'll spare you the gory details, just look up the detailed classification if you must know). They skate like they don't have confidence in themselves or eachother and it makes me uncomfortable watching them. Of course it's possible that they'll have a clean skate here but I might have to avert my eyes every time he goes to lift or throw her. Ummm so that was pretty harsh, I feel like I should say something good about them. They have good side-by-side spins and their death spiral is fine. Trust doesn't seem to be an issue on that one.
And that wraps up the Pairs analysis! Apologies if I missed a real contender, I haven't been able to watch as much pairs or dance as I did the singles, and I'm running out of time.
Stay tuned for the dance preview.
'Rank' Pair Best GP Score this year
1 Mylene Brodeur/ John Mattatall 151.97 at NHK Trophy
2 Kirsten Moore-Toweres/ Dylan Moscovitch 175.48 at Skate America
3 Paige Lawrence/ Rudi Swiegers 161.15 at Skate Canada
4 Kaleigh Hole/ Adam Johnson 115.15 At Cup of China
But I'm not sure what Skate Canada is thinking because Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford are listed below this group in 6th but they are certainly better than Hole/Johnson so I will comment on them also.
Duhamel and Radford are a really new team, only together since spring of 2010. They scored 158.53 at Skate Canada and 166.76 at the East/West Challenge Qualifying event in December, and this definitely makes them podium material. For such a new team they look fabulous and are fun to watch especially when they nail their technical content (which is formidable). They were far and away the best team at the qualifier and you could tell just by watching them do crossovers. These two could really march in and take the title by surprise!
Brodeur and Mattatall had kind of an OK GP season. A disappointing 6th place finish was improved upon with a 4th place finish at Trophee Eric Bompard, but remember there were only 7 teams at that event and 3 of them had some pretty serious fails so take it with a grain of salt. However they have been at this event 4 times before and they were 3rd in 2009 so they are certainly a team to watch. I'm just not sure they deserve 'top ranking', if, in fact, that is what is meant by starting last. If I don't sound real jazzed about them I guess I should be fair and point out that I've only seen this year's GP skates and they weren't perfect, so if they bring their A-game, watch out.
Moore-Towers and Moscovitch are going to make it hard for the other teams to make a surprise splash though. This GP season they got great scores even when they made errors so maybe it is time for them to have their turn at being the judges' favourites. They haven't been together particularly long and this is only their second time at Nationals together (they were 5th last year). However they had an amazing GP season this year winning two silver medals and qualifying for the final (where they were at last seriously outclassed by the likes of the Germans and the Chinese). I might be the only one that isn't mesmerized by their Les Mis program but I do love their difficult lift at the end where he rises up from a lunge. Ouch! And you gotta love her infectious smile.
Now Lawrence and Swiegers are a pair actually going back to 2005 and they placed 2nd at the Junior Nationals in 2008. They scored a bronze medal at Skate Canada and have two very entertaining programs this year. The SP is a very silly/cute routine to City Slickers and the LP is to the Van Helsing soundtrack with some vampire stuff thrown in for kicks. They seem like kind of a sassy duo and I'd love to see them come on strong and make this a good competition.
Hole and Johnson represent a big step down in the competition in my opinion, and it probably drops off from there. OK to be fair it looks like they are ALSO a relatively fresh pairing with only one complete season as a pair under their belts apparently. But their Cup of China performance was wince-worthy and their East/West Challenge FS was...well....pretty much disastrous. (I'll spare you the gory details, just look up the detailed classification if you must know). They skate like they don't have confidence in themselves or eachother and it makes me uncomfortable watching them. Of course it's possible that they'll have a clean skate here but I might have to avert my eyes every time he goes to lift or throw her. Ummm so that was pretty harsh, I feel like I should say something good about them. They have good side-by-side spins and their death spiral is fine. Trust doesn't seem to be an issue on that one.
And that wraps up the Pairs analysis! Apologies if I missed a real contender, I haven't been able to watch as much pairs or dance as I did the singles, and I'm running out of time.
Stay tuned for the dance preview.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Canadian Championships Preview Part 2 : Women's Event
Here is a quick look at the Women's field at the Canadian Championship. As I did with the Men, I'm looking at 7 competitors: the final 6 competitors in the start order, plus one more notable entry. Unfortunately I am less familiar with these women but I can offer some personal impressions and some numbers. Here are the total scores I was able to look up for this season:
(Apologies for the weird formatting)
'Rank' Skater Best score I found this season
1 Cynthia Phaneuf 156.24 (At Skate Canada)
2 Myriane Samson 152.05 (At Skate Canada)
3 Amelie Lacoste 157.26 (At Skate Canada)
4 Vanessa Grenier 135.84 At East/West Qualifier
5 Alexandra Najarro 135.15 At East/West Qualifier
6 Adriana DeSanctis 131.39 At East/West Qualifer
10 Jessica Dube 122.23 At East/West Qualifer
Notably absent from the list is Dianne Szmiett, who has finished 4th at this event the last two years running, but I haven't seen any articles about why she is not listed. Maybe it has something to do with her two last-place finishes on the GP circuit this year?
Cynthia Phaneuf is the highest ranked and probably the favourite to win the event. She has a good competitive record, including a win at this event in 2004 and a 5th place finish at the 2010 Worlds. She has finished in the top 4 at Canadians all 5 times she has competed in it since her win. This year she has been inconsistent with 4th place finishes and both GP events she was in. However, the judges seem to like her because she got good components scores at both events. She even out-PCS-ed Alissa Czisny in the Skate Canada short program, and won it. If Phaneuf can keep it together technically, she should be able to win here.
Myriane Samson placed third at this event last year, which is her best placement so far. Twice she has been fifth. Her GP season this year was not amazing with a 7th place finish at Skate Canada and an 8th place finish at the Cup of Russia. Aside from that awful screechy-violin version of Bohemian Rhapsody that she is skating to, I like her skating but her component scores have not been that great this year so apparently there is something lacking besides jumps. Maybe it's just the international judges that think so, because this will be her 7th time at Canadians at the Senior level.
Amelie Lacoste was a surprise bronze medallist this year at Skate Canada. She won this event as a Junior in 2005, and as a Senior has placed 3rd once and 5th twice. I like the choreography in both of her programs this year and generally enjoy watching her skate. She might be bringing a triple loop-triple loop combination in her bag of tricks. She can really make things interesting if she skates clean!
Vanessa Grenier is the youngest so far at 18, with only 3 years of Junior GP experience. She was 2nd at this event at the Junior level in 2008 and in her two appearances at this event at the Senior level she was 8th. She competed at a JGP event this season where she placed 12th. In watching sectionals I could really see that she has a great presence on the ice and she easily won the free skate portion of the East/West Challenge and won the event even though she did not win the short program. She has a fun (if cheesy) music selection in her SP and watch for her great layback spin (it gets positive GOE). Vanessa will be a real contender to watch in the future.
Alexandra Najarro is also another champion-in-the-making. She's got presence, extension, huge jumps, and a yummy-looking donut spin. There won't be that many donut spins at this event so make sure not to miss Alexandra. This is only her second time at this event at the Senior level and while she placed 15th last year her ranking seems to indicate that she has the potential to place much higher this year. She competed in the JGP this season as well with 10th and 7th place finishes at her two events. While she nailed her SP at sectionals, her free skate included a camel spin fail, jump error, and a singled jump leaving her in second place behind Grenier. Her lack of Lutz and loop jumps won't help her either.
Adriana DeSanctis has no ISU biography which I assume means that she hasn't competed in a high-level international event or something like that. She skates nice and fast and has a presence on the ice. Watch for her interesting entrance into her back camel spin and fabulous spirals.
Jessica Dube is not ranked particularly high here but she's notable because she's an Olympian! Dube is actually a pairs skater and National Champion with her partner Bryce Davison last year. Since Davison is out with an injury this year, Dube is keeping her competitive fire going by skating singles this season. She skated at the East/West Challenge and has a really simple but lovely SP to Amelie music. I'm not sure what was going on with her but she made quite a few serious errors on her jumps in both programs. She racked up big points on PCS scores and spins though, and don't miss her spins and spirals they are fabulous. She had the top PCS scores by a mile and you clearly see the Olympian quality in her skating.
Other skaters to watch for:
(Apologies for the weird formatting)
'Rank' Skater Best score I found this season
1 Cynthia Phaneuf 156.24 (At Skate Canada)
2 Myriane Samson 152.05 (At Skate Canada)
3 Amelie Lacoste 157.26 (At Skate Canada)
4 Vanessa Grenier 135.84 At East/West Qualifier
5 Alexandra Najarro 135.15 At East/West Qualifier
6 Adriana DeSanctis 131.39 At East/West Qualifer
10 Jessica Dube 122.23 At East/West Qualifer
Notably absent from the list is Dianne Szmiett, who has finished 4th at this event the last two years running, but I haven't seen any articles about why she is not listed. Maybe it has something to do with her two last-place finishes on the GP circuit this year?
Cynthia Phaneuf is the highest ranked and probably the favourite to win the event. She has a good competitive record, including a win at this event in 2004 and a 5th place finish at the 2010 Worlds. She has finished in the top 4 at Canadians all 5 times she has competed in it since her win. This year she has been inconsistent with 4th place finishes and both GP events she was in. However, the judges seem to like her because she got good components scores at both events. She even out-PCS-ed Alissa Czisny in the Skate Canada short program, and won it. If Phaneuf can keep it together technically, she should be able to win here.
Myriane Samson placed third at this event last year, which is her best placement so far. Twice she has been fifth. Her GP season this year was not amazing with a 7th place finish at Skate Canada and an 8th place finish at the Cup of Russia. Aside from that awful screechy-violin version of Bohemian Rhapsody that she is skating to, I like her skating but her component scores have not been that great this year so apparently there is something lacking besides jumps. Maybe it's just the international judges that think so, because this will be her 7th time at Canadians at the Senior level.
Amelie Lacoste was a surprise bronze medallist this year at Skate Canada. She won this event as a Junior in 2005, and as a Senior has placed 3rd once and 5th twice. I like the choreography in both of her programs this year and generally enjoy watching her skate. She might be bringing a triple loop-triple loop combination in her bag of tricks. She can really make things interesting if she skates clean!
Vanessa Grenier is the youngest so far at 18, with only 3 years of Junior GP experience. She was 2nd at this event at the Junior level in 2008 and in her two appearances at this event at the Senior level she was 8th. She competed at a JGP event this season where she placed 12th. In watching sectionals I could really see that she has a great presence on the ice and she easily won the free skate portion of the East/West Challenge and won the event even though she did not win the short program. She has a fun (if cheesy) music selection in her SP and watch for her great layback spin (it gets positive GOE). Vanessa will be a real contender to watch in the future.
Alexandra Najarro is also another champion-in-the-making. She's got presence, extension, huge jumps, and a yummy-looking donut spin. There won't be that many donut spins at this event so make sure not to miss Alexandra. This is only her second time at this event at the Senior level and while she placed 15th last year her ranking seems to indicate that she has the potential to place much higher this year. She competed in the JGP this season as well with 10th and 7th place finishes at her two events. While she nailed her SP at sectionals, her free skate included a camel spin fail, jump error, and a singled jump leaving her in second place behind Grenier. Her lack of Lutz and loop jumps won't help her either.
Adriana DeSanctis has no ISU biography which I assume means that she hasn't competed in a high-level international event or something like that. She skates nice and fast and has a presence on the ice. Watch for her interesting entrance into her back camel spin and fabulous spirals.
Jessica Dube is not ranked particularly high here but she's notable because she's an Olympian! Dube is actually a pairs skater and National Champion with her partner Bryce Davison last year. Since Davison is out with an injury this year, Dube is keeping her competitive fire going by skating singles this season. She skated at the East/West Challenge and has a really simple but lovely SP to Amelie music. I'm not sure what was going on with her but she made quite a few serious errors on her jumps in both programs. She racked up big points on PCS scores and spins though, and don't miss her spins and spirals they are fabulous. She had the top PCS scores by a mile and you clearly see the Olympian quality in her skating.
Other skaters to watch for:
- Izabel Valiquette, who has incredible spirals, a nice split-spin and split jump
- Dallas Daniel, who has exciting choreography, skates fast, and also has that interesting back camel entrance. Member of triple Lutz club.
- Daneila-Bella Favot, watch for spirals, Beillmann, split-spin
- Devon Neuls, who I will be cheering for because she is from my province, also she's built like She-Ra and brings a triple Lutz with her
- Kate Charbonneau, who has a fun program to Malaguena and brings some serious flexibility and extension. She just might have the only level 4 layback of the competition, so don't miss it!
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Canadian Championships Preview Part 1 : Men's Event
Ok, this is my first crack at doing a preview for a figure skating event. I did some research on the web to get the numbers, but the rest is mostly opinion, haha!
Let's take a look at the Men's field at the upcoming Canadian Championship. One of the major contenders, Jeremy Ten, has withdrawn because he just had surgery on his ankle, so that waters down the competition a little bit. I was actually looking forward to seeing him.
I took the starting order from the Skate Canada website and assumed it was reverse ordered by some kind of ranking and took a look at the top 7 in the field. Then I looked up some of their scores over this season to estimate their seasons' bests for the year. Since I didn't look up every possible competition it's possible that I've missed some better score, so I don't guarantee that this list is accurate, but it should give us an idea.
'Rank' Skater Best total score this season that I found
1 Patrick Chan 259.75 (at the GP Final)
2 Kevin Reynolds 218.65 (at Skate Canada)
3 Shawn Sawyer 193.80 (At NHK Trophy)
4 Andrei Rogozine 188.60 (At JGP SBC Cup)
5 Ian Martinez 194.71 (At East/West Challenge Qualifier)
6 Marc-Andre Craig 193.19 (At East/West Challenge Qualifer)
7 Joey Russell 186.37 (At Nebelhorn Trophy)
Obviously Patrick Chan should have no trouble winning this one unless he has an injury or a total meltdown. This GP season showed that he can fall at least 3 times and still win because he will always get high component scores.
Kevin Reynolds may represent the biggest challenge for Chan. Reynolds actually outscored Chan in the SP at Skate Canada by landing two quads. But Reynolds tends to get low component scores and he was hurt with downgrades in the rest of his GP programs as far as I can tell. He lacks the polish that is required to do well on the GP circuit but chances are good that if he skates clean without downgrades he could come away with the silver.
Don't count out Shawn Sawyer though. While his season's best total score of the year is over 25 points below Reynolds', we all know that he is capable of so much more. If you combine his best SP of this year and personal best LP, it comes in at a respectable 214.13. His FS this year is really cool and he's a wonderful performer so he should make things interesting in the battle for silver. Watch for his unique upright split position spin, it should make you say 'OW!'
Andrei Rogozine is coming off a successful season on the Junior GP. He won two events and was third in the final. He was Canadian Junior champion in 2009 and was 11th at last year's Canadian Championship in his Senior debut. I'm not really an expert here but I doubt that the judges will really give him top-notch scores because he's been at the Senior level for such a short time. But it's figure skating, so anything can happen!
Unfortunately I don't know too much about the other three but Martinez and Craig seem to have a good rivalry going based on their results from the qualifying events and are the highest-ranked competitors that did not get a bye, And Russell's Nebelhorn performances featured errors, so he's probably capable of achieving a higher score than what's listed above.
So, to do them justice I'll take a look at Martinez' and Craig's performances from East/West Challenge along with any of the other top qualifiers and see how they did.
All in all it should be an exciting competition and I'm looking forward to seeing quads and triple-triple combinations in person for the first time!
UPDATE: I took a look at Martinez and Craig, as promised. Wow, don't miss Ian Martinez! He's got personality and really brings it to his footwork, I think the crowd will like him. Unfortunately I thought Marc-Andre Craig seemed really robotic and expressionless by comparison especially in his short. But to give him credit his long is a little more interesting, there's a bit of pantomime here and there which doesn't do a lot for me but it's better than his short. Craig gets better PCS scores than Martinez though especially in the long so I guess the judges like him. On the plus side he skates really fast and has big jumps and fast spins. Side note: Russell has fun footwork but pretty awful camel spins. Somehow he still got positive GOE on those camel spins though, huh. I'll never understand the judging in this sport.
UPDATE 2: Somehow the formatting on that table isn't working out, ugh.
Let's take a look at the Men's field at the upcoming Canadian Championship. One of the major contenders, Jeremy Ten, has withdrawn because he just had surgery on his ankle, so that waters down the competition a little bit. I was actually looking forward to seeing him.
I took the starting order from the Skate Canada website and assumed it was reverse ordered by some kind of ranking and took a look at the top 7 in the field. Then I looked up some of their scores over this season to estimate their seasons' bests for the year. Since I didn't look up every possible competition it's possible that I've missed some better score, so I don't guarantee that this list is accurate, but it should give us an idea.
'Rank' Skater Best total score this season that I found
1 Patrick Chan 259.75 (at the GP Final)
2 Kevin Reynolds 218.65 (at Skate Canada)
3 Shawn Sawyer 193.80 (At NHK Trophy)
4 Andrei Rogozine 188.60 (At JGP SBC Cup)
5 Ian Martinez 194.71 (At East/West Challenge Qualifier)
6 Marc-Andre Craig 193.19 (At East/West Challenge Qualifer)
7 Joey Russell 186.37 (At Nebelhorn Trophy)
Obviously Patrick Chan should have no trouble winning this one unless he has an injury or a total meltdown. This GP season showed that he can fall at least 3 times and still win because he will always get high component scores.
Kevin Reynolds may represent the biggest challenge for Chan. Reynolds actually outscored Chan in the SP at Skate Canada by landing two quads. But Reynolds tends to get low component scores and he was hurt with downgrades in the rest of his GP programs as far as I can tell. He lacks the polish that is required to do well on the GP circuit but chances are good that if he skates clean without downgrades he could come away with the silver.
Don't count out Shawn Sawyer though. While his season's best total score of the year is over 25 points below Reynolds', we all know that he is capable of so much more. If you combine his best SP of this year and personal best LP, it comes in at a respectable 214.13. His FS this year is really cool and he's a wonderful performer so he should make things interesting in the battle for silver. Watch for his unique upright split position spin, it should make you say 'OW!'
Andrei Rogozine is coming off a successful season on the Junior GP. He won two events and was third in the final. He was Canadian Junior champion in 2009 and was 11th at last year's Canadian Championship in his Senior debut. I'm not really an expert here but I doubt that the judges will really give him top-notch scores because he's been at the Senior level for such a short time. But it's figure skating, so anything can happen!
Unfortunately I don't know too much about the other three but Martinez and Craig seem to have a good rivalry going based on their results from the qualifying events and are the highest-ranked competitors that did not get a bye, And Russell's Nebelhorn performances featured errors, so he's probably capable of achieving a higher score than what's listed above.
So, to do them justice I'll take a look at Martinez' and Craig's performances from East/West Challenge along with any of the other top qualifiers and see how they did.
All in all it should be an exciting competition and I'm looking forward to seeing quads and triple-triple combinations in person for the first time!
UPDATE: I took a look at Martinez and Craig, as promised. Wow, don't miss Ian Martinez! He's got personality and really brings it to his footwork, I think the crowd will like him. Unfortunately I thought Marc-Andre Craig seemed really robotic and expressionless by comparison especially in his short. But to give him credit his long is a little more interesting, there's a bit of pantomime here and there which doesn't do a lot for me but it's better than his short. Craig gets better PCS scores than Martinez though especially in the long so I guess the judges like him. On the plus side he skates really fast and has big jumps and fast spins. Side note: Russell has fun footwork but pretty awful camel spins. Somehow he still got positive GOE on those camel spins though, huh. I'll never understand the judging in this sport.
UPDATE 2: Somehow the formatting on that table isn't working out, ugh.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
2011 BMO Canadian Figure Skating Championships
Happy New Year!
Skate Canada has finally posted the starting orders for the Canadian Championships on Jan 21-23. They can be found here:
Canadian Championships Starting Orders
Good news, Virtue and Moir are on the starting list! At least for now, Skate Canada makes sure to point out that the list can change up to the week of the event. Fingers crossed. As expected, Joannie Rochette will not be competing, same with Dube/Davison. Jessica Dube will be the 9th skater in the Women's short though. The Men's field looks strong as does Dance; otherwise I'll have to check out the performances from Sectionals to really see how deep the field is in Women's and Pairs. I am especially excited this year because I will be attending in person!
Unfortunately they didn't post the competitors' planned elements or season's best scores or anything like that. If I feel up to it, I might dig through the results from sectionals for their scores and watch their performances form the East and West Challenge last month to estimate their planned elements. That will take a while though so I will probably only get around to the latter option for the top competitors.
Skate Canada has finally posted the starting orders for the Canadian Championships on Jan 21-23. They can be found here:
Canadian Championships Starting Orders
Good news, Virtue and Moir are on the starting list! At least for now, Skate Canada makes sure to point out that the list can change up to the week of the event. Fingers crossed. As expected, Joannie Rochette will not be competing, same with Dube/Davison. Jessica Dube will be the 9th skater in the Women's short though. The Men's field looks strong as does Dance; otherwise I'll have to check out the performances from Sectionals to really see how deep the field is in Women's and Pairs. I am especially excited this year because I will be attending in person!
Unfortunately they didn't post the competitors' planned elements or season's best scores or anything like that. If I feel up to it, I might dig through the results from sectionals for their scores and watch their performances form the East and West Challenge last month to estimate their planned elements. That will take a while though so I will probably only get around to the latter option for the top competitors.
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