European Championships Preview (Dance)

The last of my European Championship Previews before the event kicks off next Monday, the Dance event in Tallinn is quite unusual this season. The teams that we might consider the favorites have either not competed at all this season or are making some slight comebacks from injury and such. This aura of uncertainty makes me believe this title is possibly up for grabs. The teams to watch? I'm keep an eye on:

Isabelle Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder - This team has competed since winning the 2008 Grand Prix Final. A shoulder injury kept them out of last season's Europeans and Worlds and Isabelle's pregnancy kept them out of this season's Grand Prix. It's is still unclear if the 2008 World Champs will compete in Tallinn. FFSG (French Skating Federation) is weighing the pros and cons of having them compete there with an announcement expected anytime. I think anytime you can run your programs and get feedback pre-Olympics it's a good thing (but I'm not the one on the ice). They've said they are ready to compete no matter FFSG's decision so we may be seeing them next week.

Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat - In Delobel and Schoenfelder's competitive absence this other top French team has been slowly moving up the ranks. They won the bronze at the recent Grand Prix Final and look to be possible Gold contenders in Tallinn. Their program, however, has looked less put together each time I've seen it this season. Let's hope the break between Tokyo and Tallinn has given them some time to polish things up. If Delobel and Schoenfelder are rusty/don't compete and Domnina and Shabalin aren't put back together yet...this is the team to beat.

Alexandra Zaretski and Roman Zaretski - This team was just 5th at Samsung Anycall Cup of China but then shocked me at Skate America taking the bronze medal (actual was second in the free skate ahead of Cappellini and Lanotte). They also won the recent Golden Spin of Zagreb competition. This team apparently is doing something right as far as the judges are concerned. This competition gives them the opportunity to move into the top ranks of ice dancers. They are exciting, have beautiful programs this season, and are perhaps coming together at the perfect time. On a side note, and maybe someone can answer this for me...why do Israeli skaters compete at European's and not Four Continents Cup? I'm pretty sure I didn't fail Geography and Israel is an Asian nation. I suppose the same question applies to Azerbaijan...

Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin - This team is attempting to quick get it back together prior to the Olympics. They won Russian Nationals (although Khoklova and Novitski didn't compete) convincingly despite looking a hot mess. They looked a little better at a recent send-off show...a little. The reigning World Champs easily have the most unique OD set to Aboriginal music but I think it's going to take more than that to win this. If they somehow manage to show up in Tallinn in top form, well that would be a miracle! But if any team could pull it off I think it's them. This team may be helped along by the rust prevailing in the other teams, lack of consistent competing by other teams, and good ole Russian Ice Dancing luck!

Anna Cappellini and Luca Lanotte - One of only two teams competing in Tallinn that have done the full gambit of competition this season (two Grand Prix's, Grand Prix Final, Nationals) which may help them in the long run. They've had more time to put their programs in front of international judges and tweak them. After a surprisingly (surprisingly!) easy qualification into the Grand Prix Final, they struggled in Tokyo finishing 5th (actually was last in the free dance losing to Canadians Crone and Poirier). They also enter this event as the number two Italians, not the national champs. Still, this team can be exciting to watch and given the special circumstance of this competition they may find themselves in a race for the podium.

Sinead Kerr and John Kerr - The other team that has had a full plate this year, the British brother and sister duo seem forever stuck as the bridesmaids and never the brides. At the Grand Prix Final, they didn't look as sharp as they had in the past. This team is always one of the crowd favorites and it's hard not to like them this season with a Linkin Park Free Dance but this team needs to make a big move here to push through to the top. The best thing about this team is the passion and abandon they skate with when they are 'in the zone.' I say at Europeans hold nothing back and just go for it. Throw caution to the wind and let it all hang out...they have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Jana Khoklova and Sergei Novitski - After a promising start to their Grand Prix Season in Beijing (they won the silver) they came undone a bit at Cancer.Net Skate America, fell off the podium, and failed to make the Grand Prix Final. Then they actually made the final when Belbin and Agosto withdrew (I will let the tooth saga go...) but decided not to compete. They didn't compete at Russian Nationals either due to a knee injury for Sergei. This team heads to Tallinn a little beat up and needs a turnaround performance to get themselves back in the judges good grace. Their programs are...um...unique? Russian to the core I'd say. Their best asset is their 'in your face wow factor.' They have to use it or I think they will not be happy with their result. The defending champions may have a rough time defending here.

Federica Faiella and Massimo Scali - This team has yet to get their footing under them this season. A shaky start at Samsung Anycall Cup of China where they were just third, they were then forced to withdraw from HomeSense Skate Canada when Federica took ill. They do enter European's having won Italian Nationals and can hopefully get back on track. They won the silver at last season's European's and are hoping to at least match that performance here. They have a great program this season that tells a great story. This team is great at telling stories on the ice. Again, no team looks like clear front runners so anything is possible...perhaps a step higher up the podium this season?

UPDATE: Delobel and Schoenfelder have withdrawn from Europeans

I almost forgot!

With all the hub-bub about Nationals I almost forgot I never posted my final thoughts on Europeans!

So I already reported on Pairs but how interesting things turned out in the other three disciplines.

So in dance, after a crap CD, Domnina and Shabalin pull out citing injury. The French and Italian teams of Carron and Jost and Cappellini and Lanotte hovered down there in 5th and 6th place, no shock there. The other French Team of Pechalat and Bourzat had a solid free dance that really closed the gap between them and the podium. They were extremely close to getting on the podium. The British Team of Kerr and Kerr held on to the bronze. This team seems perpetually stuck with bronze medals this season. Just a little less than a point of ahead of the Brits were the other Italian Team of Faiella and Scali. They held onto the silver despite finishing 4th in the FD. Of course winning was the new power team on the block, Russian's Khoklova and Novitski. They won by a comfortable 10+ point margin and I think are the team to beat in L.A.

The men's final was great! I watched all the top guys on YouTube. Well, things were not so great for Tomas Verner...after a solid short, he feel apart in the free and was unable to defend his title. Alban Preaubert had kind of flat performance and found himself 5th. How about Yannick Ponsero winning the free skate from 9th place to place 4th overall. He was kind of amazing and when this guy puts two programs together, watch out, he'll be a world beater! Kevin Van der Perren, despite the lack of training and not knowing if he could get through his free skate without passing out on the ice turned in a respectable program to find himself with another European Bronze. Ummmmm...Samuel Contesti has vaulted himself into my favorites list! I had so much fun watching him! Nice to see a fresh face at the top and well deserved silver. Of course winning is Joubert, despite some technical miscues (including a fall on Triple Lutz). However, this new Matrix program is heavy on the arm movements and lacks depth. This is a program that many of the best in the world (Chan, Oda, Lysacek, Abbott) could easily beat, as his own countrymen Ponsero did!

Then the ladies. First Kiira Korpi who, God bless her, had that nasty slip right off the top of her program but came back to skate well. Of all the top finishing ladies I enjoyed her program the most and for the love of everything I can't understand how she didn't have the highest component scores. Nice job for Finland, she placed 5th. Russian Alena Leonova skated a program with some gusto and pulled a Ponsero by pulling up from 11th to finish 4th overall. Susana Poykio hit the podium for Finalnd after a performing a 'pretty' program. It lacked some speed and some content but was nice. Carolina Kostner finished second. Her short program did her in, despite winning the free skate, she couldn't make up the point difference to win overall. Laura Lepisto therefore became the first Finnish lady to win the European crown. And what better time to do it than in Helsinki? In fact, it is the strongest Finnish finish (no pun intended) that I can remember in recent history will all three ladies placing in the top 5.

UPDATE: Apparently Carolina is contesting the results of the free skate and the ISU is listening. Was it a sit spin...was it a combination spin? Oy vey!

And here's Samuel Contesti's free because it was so much fun!

2009 Russian Nationals

Finding Results from this event has been tricky! But I think I may have found them...maybe...

I'm extrapalating a bit here, but based on the make-up of the team going to Europeans I'm going to make some assumptions on the medalists. By all means, this is unofficial and if I've got something wrong please correct me.

Men
1. Sergei Voronov
2. Artem Borodulin
3. Andrei Lutai

Ladies
1. Katarina Gerboldt
2. Alena Leonova
3. Nina Petushkova

Paris
1. Kawaguchi and Smirnov
2. Mukhortova and Trankov
3. Ilyushechkina and Maisuridze

Dance
1. Khoklova and Novitski
2. Rubleva and Shafer
3. Gorshkova and Butikov (Thanks for the update Sharon!)

Cup of Russia Recap

My goodness! Starting with the Ice Dance, what a crazy ride that was! The OD my goodness! I gasped when Charlie missed that first twizzle sequence and my heart sunk. Then when he feel on that second smaller twizzle section I just had to turn it off! I didn't even finish watching the OD! When I returned much later and found they were only in 4th I was slightly relieved. Again the Italians had a prime opprotunity to hit the podium that just didn't pan out. The judges aren't feeling the 'Love Story' program as much as they'd like. Despite the 8th place finish in the OD Davis and White managed to get themselves back on the podium into that third position with a solid free skate that was ranked 2nd best. Had it not been for the horrible OD, they might have gone toe-toe for the title! Shockingly, well not shockingly but unexpectedly Domnina and Shabalin only got the silver after a free dance that was unispired, slow, and only ranked third best on the night. Khoklova and Novitski, who were expected to be the #2 Russian team took the title in a bit of a surprise.

On a side note, I have many issues with the judging system but it has done wonders for Ice Dance, I love hove you never know what will happen and the results aren't predetermined.

No big shocks in the Pairs but how about Kawaguchi and Smirnov becoming the second team to hit the throw quad salchow in competition! I wasn't even expecting it...it just sort of floated out of nowhere and I looked and thought to myself "I think I just saw a quad?" I rewound and thought "I did just see a quad!" Despite winning the free skate they had to settle for the silver. The bronze went to Volosozhar and Morozov who couldn't quite match their silver medal performance from Cup of China...big problems for Stanislav on the side-by-side jumps. Zhang and Zhang took the title after a healthy lead going into the free skate. Gorgeous throw jumps and overall better skating than last season...they appear to be one of the teams to beat this season (as they usually are anyway!). This is the only discipline I managed to correctly predict...drats!

I am now at a loss of words about Kimmie Meissner. After what looked like a decent short program I was shocked to see how low she was ranked. To the element sheet I went and she got little credit for what was considered a double loop and the majority of her footwork and spins were only given level ones. Then that free skate that started strong but faded fast. I just feel bad for her and hope that something can change. Czisny moved up a spot to claim fourth place after an up and down program, but the spins and spiral sequence continue to amaze me. Suguri settled for the bronze despite leading after the short program. I think the nerves crept in a bit but what she did do she did very well. Rachael Flatt simply shined in an amazing performance that, more importantly, had no downgraded jumps. I thought she was great and I think she deserved the win! Poor alas, Carolina Kostner took the title with a better performance than she turned in at Skate Canada but still some issues. However, she creamed Flatt on the component score (and I can't figure out how) and won that way. Sigh....

I was so confused by the men, I just never got my head around it. Adam Rippon had a much better skate here than he did in Everett and finished 5th. He seemed pleased with his effort. Jeremy Abbott pulled up to 4th after a great free skate. Something to note about Abbott...if he has a solid short program, watch out (ala Cup of China) because the judges are loving his programs. He actually finished second in the free to get to fourth. Alban Preaubert did it again as the frenchman earned his second bronze of the series after another fantastic skate. He managed to hold off Abbott. Tomas Verner earned the silver despite winning the free skate. He looked better than he did in China opening his program with a gorgeous quad toe. Joubert took the title despite finishing fourth in the free. He just had a big lead after the short. It's not even that he skated bad he just didn't seem to get the tech credit of the other skaters. This could be a problem for Brian later in the season. If he doesn't turn in a stellar short, he could be in trouble because his free skate lacks staying power (kind of like when Buttle won World's last season...I'm just saying).

You can check out Joubbie's Free right here:

Brian Joubert 08 Cup of Russia LP
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