Showing posts with label TEB. Show all posts
Showing posts with label TEB. Show all posts

Saturday, November 19, 2011

2011 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating: Trophee Eric Bompard Pairs Free Skate LIVE BLOG

1) Vanessa James & Morgan Cipres (FRA)
     Music: Nostalgia
  • This is a very soft program compared to their very athletic short program
  • Perfect unison on SBS jumps
  • Very slow split double twist
  • Nevermind what I said about being a "soft program"
  • Good clean throw, not a lot of distance
  • All that clean skating and he goes down on a simple crossover, they are practically laughing as they continue
  • I like this music a lot, even if it is repetitive
  • Very strong outing from them, it won't be medal-worthy, but they show promise
  • Finish after the music
FS Score: 45.75 (TES) + 43.70 (PCS) -1.00 (DED) = 88.45
Total Score: 44.86 (SP) + (FS) = 133.31

2) Ksenia Stolbova & Fedor Klimov (RUS)
     Music: Polovetsian Dances
  • They are so similar in size that the split twists are hard for them
  • Her skirt is a little long for me, it gets in the way, and I hate those black tights
  • She stumbles on jump #2 of the 3-jump combination
  • They have a long way to go in terms of polish and elegance, though I feel they'll always be more of an athletic team
  • Those lift positions really need some work, her foot is nowhere near pointed
  • Wild on the throw, she puts a hand and a foot down
  • Points for creativity on the death spiral entrance, but it's not pretty
  • Hard fall and a big skid on the landing of the 2nd throw
  • That was a very poor outing from them, I expected much more
FS Score: 43.08 (TES) + 46.17 (PCS) - 1.00 (DED) = 88.25
Total Score: 48.81 (SP) + 88.25 (FS) = 137.06

3) Huibo Dong & Yiming Wu (CHN)
     Music: Mulan
  • It's so cute that they're doing Mulan!
  • Crash landing on the split triple twist
  • Good jumping pass
  • He nearly hits the boards
  • Fall from him on the 2nd jumping pass
  • They look very tentative in the lift
  • Nearly a dead stop at the end of the death spiral
  • Everything looks very slow and laboured
  • Very slow spins
  • This element layout follows that of the usual Chinese programs
  • Fairly clean program, but no spark at all to be found
FS Score: 53.85 (TES) + 45.63 (PCS) - 1.00 (DED) = 98.48
Total Score: 49.27 (SP) + 98.48 (FS) = 147.75

4) Jessica Dube & Sebastien Wolfe (CAN)
     Music: Heroes by Phillip Glass
  • Good overall speed
  • I love the cut of her dress but his shirt is so 1997
  • Clean jumping until he put his hands down on the last one
  • Off unison in the spins
  • Tentative approach the the 1st throw, lacked speed and ice coverage
  • I miss Bryce, but these two have potential together if they stick it out
  • Better timing on the 2nd throw
  • Didn't get the lift up, he couldn't get his arm straight, not sure if that completely devalues the lift or not
  • Finished a little ahead of the music after the pair spin
  • An okay outing, just fine for a brand new pair
FS Score: 48.06 (TES) + 49.38 (PCS) = 97.44
Total Score: 53.24 (SP) + 97.44 (FS) = 150.68

5) Amanda Evora & Mark Ladwig (USA)
     Music: Daphnis et Chloe, Reverie
  • I love the opening section, so fluid and gorgeous
  • Great split twist
  • Good jumps! Just a wild free leg swing from Amanda
  • I love that little choreographed lift
  • Good throw Amanda!
  • Great speed and flow across the ice
  • They are so beautiful I'm literally crying
  • Ouch hard splat from Amanda on that double axel
  • I say this every gosh darn competition, but they are so beautiful, but who that can only take you so far when you can land the 3 jumps you have to do in a program
  • Their reverse entry lifts are so gorgeous, he is sooo strong
  • I love the spiral sequence
FS Score: 54.04 (TES) + 58.85 (PCS) - 1.00 (DED) = 111.89
Total Score: 57.69 (SP) + 111.89 (FS) = 169.58

6) Vera Bazarova & Yuri Larionov (RUS)
     Music: Doctor Zhivago
  • Clean opening jumping pass
  • Big split triple twist, because she weighs 7 pounds
  • How she lands throws on those teeny tiny legs is beyond mee!
  • All the jumps were clean, that's a big accomplishment for them!
  • He actually gets pretty good leg height on that spiral
  • Very slow rotation on the lift
  • Very nice arch in the back from Vera
  • When they land all their elements they pull big numbers, so this is a nice bounce back from Skate America where they only placed 5th
  • Their lifts lack variety, but she doesn't hit a bad position
FS Score:65.34  (TES) +  (PCS) = 125.85
Total Score: 59.06 (SP) + (FS) = 184.91

7) Meagan Duhamel & Eric Radford (CAN)
     Music: Viva la Vida, Yellow
  • This is a beautiful program, something about it is so heart warming
  • He is so much nicer to look at now that he cut his hair
  • I love her arch before the split twist
  • Unison issues on the SBS jumps, and they both land hands down on the 3rd jump
  • Good clean double axels to recover
  • I prefer a more traditional death spiral though I know variations improve the level
  • Very good unison on the spins, quite remarkable for a team that is only a year old
  • Feed stopped for a minute, not sure what I missed
  • Nice 2nd throw
  • Good lifts today, I believe those were a struggle at Skate Canada
  • Good flexibility from her on the pair spin, but it was rally off center
  • Abrupt ending, we know I hate those
  • Apparently they fell on the 1st throw 
FS Score: 61.35 (TES) + 57.21 (PCS) - 3.00 (DED) = 115.56
Total Score: 61.06 (SP) + 115.56 (FS) = 176.62

8) Tatiana Volosozhar & Maxim Trankov (RUS)
     Music: Black Swan
  • They are in a league of their own here
  • Was that a split single twist?
  • I'm so happy she scrapped the tutu
  • Nice jumping pass
  • Very soft knees from both of them
  • Perfect unison on the 2nd jumping pass
  • Hardly any loss of speed in the grip change on the death spiral
  • He exits the spin one revolution before she does
  • This is so athletic and so graceful at the same time
  • Huge throw, what else can you say about how good that element was
  • Wonderful lift position on her part, very fast rotation
  • They get bonus for all these lifts in the second half
  • I love where this 2nd throw is placed in the music, two-footed
  • A little slow on that carry lift
  • A few minor errors, but they will be your winners!
FS Score: 64.20 (TES) + 66.24 (PCS) = 130.44
Total Score: 63.69 (SP) + 130.44 (FS) = 194.13


Pl.NameNationPointsSPFS
1Tatiana VOLOSOZHAR / Maxim TRANKOV
RUS
194.1311
2Vera BAZAROVA / Yuri LARIONOV
RUS
184.9132
3Meagan DUHAMEL / Eric RADFORD
CAN
176.6223
4Amanda EVORA / Mark LADWIG
USA
169.5844
5Jessica DUBE / Sebastien WOLFE
CAN
150.6856
6Huibo DONG / Yiming WU
CHN
147.7565
7Ksenia STOLBOVA / Fedor KLIMOV
RUS
137.0678
8Vanessa JAMES / Morgan CIPRES
FRA
133.3187



Pl.  NameNationTSS
=
TES
+
 PCS
+
SSTRPECHINDed.
-
StN.
1Tatiana VOLOSOZHAR / Maxim TRANKOVRUS130.4464.20 66.248.398.048.258.368.360.00#8
2Vera BAZAROVA / Yuri LARIONOVRUS125.8565.34 60.517.647.437.647.617.500.00#6
3Meagan DUHAMEL / Eric RADFORDCAN115.5661.35 57.217.326.967.117.257.113.00#7
4Amanda EVORA / Mark LADWIGUSA111.8954.04 58.857.467.217.437.397.291.00#5
5Huibo DONG / Yiming WUCHN98.4853.85 45.636.145.395.645.825.541.00#3
6Jessica DUBE / Sebastien WOLFECAN97.4448.06 49.386.436.046.076.296.040.00#4
7Vanessa JAMES / Morgan CIPRESFRA88.4545.75 43.705.715.215.435.575.391.00#1
8Ksenia STOLBOVA / Fedor KLIMOVRUS88.2543.08 46.176.145.615.685.795.641.00#2

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

2011 Trophee Eric Bompard: Ice Dance Preview

Ice Dance is the headlining event at Trophee Eric Bompard as it is the France's best chance of winning a medal. This is a strong field, 4 of the 8 having medaled on the Grand Prix this season thus far. The short dance wraps up the short programs this Friday November 18th at 2:00 p.m. EST and the free is the final event of the competition on Saturday November 19th at 2:30 p.m. EST.
Olympic champs Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir (CAN) are the clear favorites in this event, hands down. They won't face serious competition until they meet Davis & White at the Grand Prix Final. Their programs this season are nice, but the're safe, while some of the up and coming teams are taking risks. One of the risk-taking teams is Natalie Pechalat & Fabian Bourzat (FRA), the home favorites and likely Silver medalists. Their short dance is very fun, very Carnaval, but their Egyptian-themed free, though technically exquisite, is a bit garish. I commend them for verging into new territory, but their over the top Halloween-looking costumes just aren't World Class. Bronze will be a tight race between two teams that already have Bronze medals from their first Grand Prix of the season, Anna Cappellini & Luca Lanotte (ITA) and Elena Ilinykh & Nikita Katsalapov (RUS). Both teams have great sets of programs, very different in nature, but the Italians have about a 5 point advantage over the Russians when comparing scores from their first events. It's difficult to compare across events sometimes, but the Italians were cleaner overall. Madison Chock & Evan Bates (USA) were a last minute substitution and though they likely won't medal here, they look to improve their scores and overall performance at each competition with the hope of medaling at US Nationals in January and qualifying for Worlds.

My Podium Predictions:
1) Virtue & Moir (CAN)
2) Pechalat & Bourzat (FRA)
3) Cappellini & Lanotte (ITA)

Competitive History:

Anna Cappellini & Luca Lanotte (ITA)-3rd at 2011 Skate Canada, 8th 2011 Worlds, 1st 2011 Mont Blanc Trophy, 5th 2010 NHK Trophy, 2nd 2010 Nebelhorn Trophy; PB: 154.87 at 2011 Worlds

Madison Chock & Evan Bates (USA)-4th at 2011 Skate Canada, 3rd 2011 Finlandia Trophy; PB: 136.88 at 2011 Finlandia Trophy

Kristina Gorshkova & Vitali Butikov (RUS)-5th 2011 Finlandia Trophy, 1st 2011 Winter Universiade, 2nd 2010 Golden Spin, 4th 2010 Cup of Russia, 6th 2010 Skate Canada, 3rd 2010 Finlandia Trophy, 3rd 2010 Mont Blanc Trophy; PB: 127.47 at 2010 Rostelecom Cup

Xintong Huang & Xun Zheng (CHN)-5th at 2011 Cup of China, 17th 2011 Worlds, 6th 2011 Four Continents, 1st 2011 Asian Winter Games, 5th 2010 Trophee Eric Bompard, 5th 2010 Cup of China; 130.29 at 2011 Four Continents

Sara Hurtado & Andria Diaz (ESP)-7th 2011 Nebelhorn Trophy, 23rd 2011 Worlds, 15th 2011 Europeans, 3rd 2011 Bavarian Open, 4th 2011 Winter Universiade, 11th 2010 Golden Spin, 8th 2010 Junior NRW Trophy, 5th 2010 JGP Germany, 10th 2010 JGP England; PB: 120.411 at 2011 World Juniors 

Elena Ilinykh & Nikita Katsalapov (RUS)-3rd at 2011 NHK Trophy, 7th 2011 Worlds, 4th 2011 Europeans, 3rd 2010 Rostelecom Cup, 4th 2010 NHK Trophy; PB: 154.50 at 2011 Worlds 

Nathalie Pechalat & Fabian Bourzat (FRA)-2nd at 2011 Skate America, 4th 2011 Worlds, 1st 2011 Europeans, 2nd 2010 Grand Prix Final, 1st 2010 Trophee Eric Bompard, 1st 2011 Cup of China, 1st 2010 Finlandia Trophy, 1st 2010 Nebelhorn Trophy; PB: 167.40 at 2011 Europeans

Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir (CAN)-1st at 2011 Skate Canada, 1st 2011 Finlandia Trophy, 2nd 2011 Worlds, 1st 2010 Worlds, 1st 2010 Winter Olympics; PB: 181.79 at 2011 Worlds 

Monday, November 14, 2011

2011 Trophee Eric Bompard: Men's Preview

We've reached the final continent of the 2011 Grand Prix of Figure Skating, Europe, for Trophee Eric Bompard. This Men's field has been talked about as being one of the finest assembled for a single Grand Prix in recent years. I'd like to say that these outstanding skaters will not disappoint, but even if they do, there will be other guys just as good ready to jump onto the podium. For those of us in the US, it's a blessing that we won't have to watch the events in the middle of the night. The men skate their short at 9:00 a.m. EST on Friday November 18th and their free skate at 7:30 a.m. EST on Saturday November 19th. I'll be LIVE BLOGGING all the events on my site so come back and visit and I'll talk to you then!
In this field of greats, reigning World Champion Patrick Chan (CAN) is the clear front-runner, especially after the withdrawal of Evan Lysacek. In true Chan fashion, he took gold at Skate Canada even with mistakes. His ability to pull points in GOE and PCS, even with falls, makes him a great bet to take the title here. Nobunari Oda (JPN) was quadless at Cup of China, but still took Silver, even with an array of small mistakes. He'll be on the podium if he doesn't beat himself off of it. Adam Rippon (USA) has the 10th highest score of the season, and the 4th highest of this field, even though he made his fair share of errors at Skate Canada. With his great artistry and technique, he could  even take Silver if he can land his Quad Lutz and skate two clean sets. Let's see who to discuss next, oh yes, Nan Song (CHN) this surprise Bronze medalist at his home Grand Prix. This guy is a technical machine and he capitalized on the mistakes of some contenders to grab a medal and will certainly factor into this competition with his huge Quad Toe and positive GOEs across the board on jumps. Michal Brezina (CZE) won Skate America but his score is not among the top ten this season, so what does that tell you? He skated a phenomenal short but absolutely fell apart in the free. He does have Quads if he chooses to show them, so he has major scoring potential if he can go clean, though that rarely happens. Florent Amodio (FRA) is a glorified hot mess in my opinion, who happens to rack up some major points when he is clean, which he was not at Skate America. Even if he skates without major mistakes, it is my opinion that he is outclassed in this field of men, many of whom have a real sense of artistry and not coach Morozov's brand of sequin-clad flitting and flailing.

My Podium Predictions:
1) Patrick Chan (CAN)
2) Nobunari Oda (JPN)
3) Adam Rippon (USA)


Competitive History: 


Florent Amodio (FRA)-9th at 2011 Skate America, 7th 2011 Worlds, 1st 2011 Europeans, 6th 2010 Grand Prix Final, 2nd 2010 Trophee Eric Bompard 3rd place 2010 NHK Trophy; PB: 229.68 at 2011 Worlds


Chafik Besseghier (FRA)-2nd at 2011 Cup of Nice, 11th at 2011 O Nepela, 6th at 2011 Triglav Trophy, 5th at 2011 Winter Universiade, 5th at 2010 Trophee Eric Bompard; PB: 185.69 at 2010 Trophee Eric Bompard

Michal Brezina (CZE)-1st at 2011 Skate America, 2nd 2011 Nebelhorn Trophy, 4th 2011 Worlds, 8th 2011 Europeans, 1st 2011 Bavarian Open, 2nd 2010 Golden Spin of Zagreb, 7th 201 Nebelhorn Trophy; PB: 236.06 at 2010 Worlds 

Patrick Chan (CAN)-1st at 2011 Skate Canada, 1st at 2011 Worlds, 1st at 2011 Grand Prix Final, 2nd at 2010 Rostelecom Cup, 1st at 2010 Skate Canada; PB 280.98 at 2011 Worlds 



Alexander Majorov (SWE)-9th at 2011 Skate Canada, 4th 2011 Finlandia Trophy, 28th at 2011 Worlds, 1st at 2011 Nordics, 1st at 2010 NRW Trophy, 1st at 2010 Ice Challenge; PB: 195.71 at 2011 Worlds


Nobunari Oda (JPN)-2nd at 2011 Cup of China, 6th 2011 Worlds, 1st 2011 Winter Universiade, 2nd 2010 Grand Prix Final, 2nd 2010 Skate America, 2nd 2010 Skate Canada; 244.56 at 2006 NHK Trophy


Kevin Reynolds (CAN)-7th at 2011 Cup of China, 7th at 2011 Skate America, 20th 2011 Worlds, 11th 2011 Europeans, 4th 2010 Trophee Eric Bompard, 4th 2010 Skate Canada; PB: 218.62 at 2010 Skate Canada

Adam Rippon (USA)-4th at 2011 Skate Canada, 4th at 2010 America, 3rd at 2010 Skate Canada; PB: 233.04 at 2010 Skate Canada 


Nan Song (CHN)-3rd at 2011 Cup of China, 22nd 2011 Worlds, 9th 2011 Four Continents, 3rd 2011 Asian Winter Games, 6th 2010 Trophee Eric Bompard, 10th 2010 Skate America; PB: 226.75 at 2011 Cup of China