Friday, November 25, 2011

Rostelecom Cup Ladies Short Program

This event begins at 6:00am EST.
The warmup group is on the ice.

Group 1
Sofia Biryukova, RUS: 31.56 TES + 24.74 PCS = 56.30
  • Good triple toe + triple toe to start the program
  • Solid triple loop
  • very nice layback into a haircutter and a biellman
  • spread eagle into a double axel
  • good low sit spin
  • I'd like to see more power and difficulty through this step sequence
  • Good camel into sit into an overhead catchfoot but loss of speed at the end
Adelina Sotnikova, RUS: 31.10 TES + 27.69 PCS -1.00 = 57.79 and into 1st place
  • I'm not crazy about this half dress with leggings look that she's going for.  It makes her look immature which she doesn't need being so young
  • She has great understanding of music and really skates to the beat
  • Fall on her opening triple lutz--she just sat back on the landing and can't tack on the triple toe
  • Triple toe + double toe
  • Nice donut position in her camel spin into a very nice catch foot position with her foot held up to the ceiling
  • Nice double axel with great flow out of the jump
  • Nice twisted layback into a one armed pearl and then a biellman
  • Very nice speed and ice coverage through the one foot section of her footwork but she seems to be leaning forward and that causes some of her steps to look wild
  • Camel spin into a nice sit spin and finishing with a nice overhead catchfoot upright spin
Agnes Zawadzki, USA: 29.37 TES + 25.44 PCS -1.00 = 53.81 and into 3rd place
  • Fall on the second jump of her triple toe + triple toe combo, just looked like she didn't have enough speed
  • Good triple lutz
  • Very nice layback into a haircutter and a nice stretched out Biellman
  • Nice speed through the one foot section of her step sequence but she needs more movement in her upper body if she wants the top levels
  • Good camel position into a donut with good speed
  • Very nice connection with the music
  • Good double axel
  • Nice camel into a broken leg sit spin and an upright catchfoot spin but she loses some centering in the position changes
Christina Gao, USA: 17.73 TES + 22.91 PCS -1.00 = 39.64 and into 4th place
  • She has such nice in betweens in her choreography
  • Stepped out of the opening triple toe
  • Fall on the double axel
  • Popped her lutz and with no combo in this program she'll get a penalty for not doing the required elements
  • Biellman needs to be stretched out more and she really lost a lot of speed at the end
  • Good sit spin but loss of speed at the end and she has to really push to get going again
  • Nice movements in her step sequence but she needs more speed and power to really get this across the ice
  • Good broken leg sit spin into an upright twist variation
  • Not the skate she was looking for
Amelie Lacoste, CAN: 25.03 TES + 25.60 PCS = 50.63 and into 4th place
  • Nice double axel with good flow out of it
  • Triple loop + double loop combo was good
  • Double lutz
  • Good low sit spin position with a nice twist variation
  • Good camel spin with a decent illusion into a nice broken leg sit spin 
  • She looks a little out of control on some of these leg kicks in the step sequence and it doesn't flow as nice as the rest of her program but the content is good
  • Good layback position into a haircutter
Group 2
Haruka Imai, JPN: 29.16 TES + 26.04 PCS = 55.20 and into 3rd place
  • Triple lutz + double toe--very wobbly on the first edge and they'll be checking it for an edge call
  • Nice easy triple loop
  • Good donut position in her camel spin but she needs to really stretch through her bottom leg
  • Nice double axel
  • Very nice expressiveness in her step sequence and good use of her whole body with some nice one foot sections
  • REally nice positions and speed in her layback spin into a nice haircutter and Biellman
  • Good final combo spin with good speed through the position changes but she needs more stretch through her free leg in the sit spins
Rachael Flatt, USA: 27.62 TES + 25.74 PCS = 53.36 and into 5th place
  • This blue dress is so much more flattering on her than the yellow long sleeved version from last season
  • Triple lutz + double toe--first landing a little choppy but she hangs on
  • Good triple loop
  • Decent camel spin with improved stretch in her catch foot position 
  • A lot of improvement in her layback spin and the use of her arms but she needs a lot more speed and without a Biellman she's giving away points
  • Nice double axel
  • Great Ina Bauer on the crescendo of the music
  • She's really going after this step sequence and it's nice to see her perform as well; lots of difficulty, edge changes and upper body movement with good speed and ice coverage
  • Nice speed in the camel spin but the illusions are not gaining her any points
Mao Asada, JPN: 33.34 TES + 30.95 PCS = 64.29 and into 1st place
  • This is not the best look for her and it looks like she borrowed Fumie Suguri's costume from last season
  • Nice double axel
  • Triple flip + double loop
  • Nice triple loop
  • Nice stretched out sit spin position with good speed into a nice twist variation
  • Very slow camel spin into a broken let sit spin and an upright catchfoot spin
  • Nice flow through the step sequence with a lot of edge changes but there are a few places where she gets some ice spray
  • Nice layback with her arms behind her back into a Biellman
Kiira Korpi, FIN: 26.01 TES + 29.80 PCS = 55.81 and into 4th place
  • Triple toe + double toe with a big ice spray on the first landing
  • Turn out of the triple loop
  • Nice twisted sit spin position but she needs to stretch through her free leg
  • Single axel
  • Good twisted layback into a haircutter
  • Very nice step sequence with a lot of movement, good speed and ice coverage and connection to the music
  • Good low sit spin into a nice camel spin and an upright catch foot spin
  • This program is beautifully choreographed and it's a shame about the jumps today
Alena Leonova, RUS: 33.87 TES + 30.04 PCS = 63.91 and into 2nd place
  • Good triple toe + triple toe
  • Slight Two footing on her solo triple flip
  • Good double axel
  • Nice haircutter into a Biellman but she loses all her speed
  • A lot of standing and posing at the end of the rink before her step sequence--she's not moving for at least 5-10 seconds
  • A lot of posing in the step sequence too--every few steps she has to stop for a pose break and it really breaks the flow of the sequence
  • Nice sit spin position with a stretched out leg and a nice twist variation
  • Very nice camel spin but not a nice illusion position and a loss of centering in the change of foot
Pl.  NameNationTSS
=
TES
+
 PCS
+
SSTRPECHINDed.
-
StN.
1Mao ASADAJPN64.2933.34 30.957.867.577.717.797.750.00#8
2Alena LEONOVARUS63.9133.87 30.047.367.077.827.507.790.00#10
3Adelina SOTNIKOVARUS57.7931.10 27.697.076.716.967.046.821.00#2
4Sofia BIRYUKOVARUS56.3031.56 24.746.215.936.326.216.250.00#1
5Kiira KORPIFIN55.8126.01 29.807.547.187.397.547.610.00#9
6Haruka IMAIJPN55.2029.16 26.046.466.296.576.616.610.00#6
7Agnes ZAWADZKIUSA53.8129.37 25.446.576.076.366.466.321.00#3
8Rachael FLATTUSA53.3627.62 25.746.396.216.616.396.570.00#7
9Amelie LACOSTECAN50.6325.03 25.606.616.116.436.436.430.00#5
10Christina GAOUSA39.6417.73 22.916.005.575.545.895.641.00#4

Thursday, November 24, 2011

U.S. Nationals Qualifiers

NOVICE QUALIFIERS
LADIES
Eastern Section
Brianna Laxon
Olivia Serafini
Morgan Sewall
Madison Vinci 

Midwestern Section
Madison DeLuca
Amber Glenn
Avery Kurtz
Bradie Tennell

Pacific Coast Section
Karen Chen
Amanda Gelb
Dyllan McIntee
Selena Zhao

MEN'S
Eastern Section
Tony Lu
Jimmy Ma
Oleksiy Melnyk
James Schetelich

Midwestern Section
Chase Belmontes
Brian Krentz
Kyle Shropshire
Nicholas Vrdoljak

Pacific Coast Section
Spencer Howe
Wilbur Ji
Kevin Shum
Vincent Zhou

PAIRS
Eastern Section
Alexis Donahoe/James Rappold
Victoria LoRusso/Timothy Habeeb
Alexandria Shaughnessy/James Morgan
Lianna Thomas/Gene Fu

Midwestern Section
Caitlin Fields/Jason Pacini
Allison Smith/Anthony Evans
Danielle Viola/Alexander Johnson
Christina Zaitsev/Ernie Utah Stevens 

Pacific Coast Section
Hannah Klopstock/Chadwick Phillips
Chelsea Liu/Devin Perini
Elise Middleton/Robert Hennings
Nancy Xu/Robert Przepioski 

ICE DANCING
Eastern Section
Meara Lorello/William Dean
Rebecca Lucas/Yan Kazansky
Whitney Miller/Kyle MacMillan
Karen Tong/David Cruikshank

Midwestern Section
Sierra Chadwick/Alexander Martin
Madison George/Brad Kleffman
Holly Moore/Daniel Klaber
Hannah Rosinski/Jacob Jaffe 

Pacific Coast Section
Lauren Leonesio/Dustin Perini
Chloe Lewis/Logan Bye
Hannah Pfeifer/Grant Lorello
Stacey Siddon/Jared Weiss

JUNIOR QUALIFIERS
LADIES
Eastern Section
Jenelle Herman
Jessica Hu
Nicole Rajic
Allison Timlen 

Midwestern Section
Mariah Bell
Gracie Gold
Barbie Long
Hannah Miller

Pacific Coast Section
Camille Davis
Polina Edmunds
Katarina Kulgeyko
Gwendolyn Prescott

Bye
Ashley Cain

MEN'S
Eastern Section
Harrison Choate
Timothy Dolensky
Andrew Nagode
Emmanuel Savary

Midwestern Section
Ryan Hartley
Lukas Kaugars
Timothy Koleto
Troy Tomasello

Pacific Coast Section
Nathan Chen
David Wang
Philip Warren
Jay Yostanto

PAIRS
Eastern Section
Cali Fujimoto/Nicholas Barsi-Rhyne
Audrey Goldberg/Joseph Dolkiewicz
Colin Grafton/Kylie Duarte
Christine Mozer/Daniel O'Shea

Midwestern Section
Madeline Aaron/Max Settlage
Brianna de la Mora/Taylor Wilson
Olivia Oltmanns/Joshua Santillan

Pacific Coast Section
AnnaMarie Pearce/Craig Norris
Jessica Pfund/AJ Reiss

Bye
Jessica Noelle Calalang/Zack Sidhu
Haven Denney/Brandon Frazier
Britney Simpson/Matthew Blackmer

ICE DANCING
Eastern Section
Lauri Bonacorsi/Travis Mager
Danielle Gamelin/Alexander Gamelin
Lorraine McNamara/Quinn Carpenter
Rachel Parsons/Michael Parsons

Midwestern Section
Amanda Bertsch/Sam Kaplun
Jenna Dzierzanowski/Vinny Dispenza
Kaitlin Hawayek/Michael Bramante
Jessica Mancini/Tyler Brooks

Pacific Coast Section
Madeline Heritage/Nathaniel Fast
Roxette Howe/Mark Jahnke
Cassandra Jeandell/Damian Dodge
Elliana Pogrebinsky/Ross Gudis

Bye
Alexandra Aldridge/Daniel Eaton

SENIOR QUALIFIERS
LADIES
Eastern Section
Samantha Cesario
Haley Dunne
Joelle Forte
Yasmin Siraj 

Midwestern Section
Kiri Baga
Morgan Bell
McKinzie Daniels
Nina Jiang

Pacific Coast Section
Sophia Adams
Leah Keiser
Angela Wang
Caroline Zhang 
Bye
Alissa Czisny
Rachael Flatt
Christina Gao
Vanessa Lam
Mirai Nagasu
Ashley Wagner
Agnes Zawadzki

MEN'S
Eastern Section
Alexander Aiken
Wesley Campbell
Stephen Carriere
Alexander Zahradnicek

Midwestern Section
Max Aaron
William Brewster
Grant Hochstein
Alexander Johnson

Pacific Coast Section
Jonathan Cassar
Scott Dyer
Keegan Messing
Douglas Razzano

Bye
Jeremy Abbott
Jason Brown
Richard Dornbush
Joshua Farris
Armin Mahbanoozadeh
Ross Miner
Brandon Mroz
Adam Rippon

PAIRS
Eastern Section
Kloe Chanel Bautista/Tyler Harris
Gretchen Donlan/Andrew Speroff
Alexa Scimeca/Ivan Dimitrov
Felicia Zhang/Nathan Bartholomay

Bye
Cassie Andrews/Timothy LeDuc
Ashley Cain/Joshua Reagan 
Marissa Castelli/Simon Shnapir
Caydee Denney/John Coughlin
Amanda Evora/Mark Ladwig
Rita Fehr/Peter Biver
Mary Beth Marley/Rockne Brubaker
Andrea Poapst/Christopher Knierim 
Tiffany Vise/Don Baldwin

ICE DANCING
Eastern Section
Anastasia Cannuscio/Colin McManus
Isabella Cannuscio/Ian Lorello
Ginna Hoptman/Pavel Filchenkov
Meredith Zuber/Kyle Herring

Midwestern Section
Carina Glastris/Kevin Allison
Madison Hubbell/Zachary Donohue
Shannon Wingle/Timothy McKernan 

Pacific Coast Section
Charlotte Lichtman/Dean Copely
Anastasia Olson/Jordan Cowan
Emily Samuelson/Todd Gilles
Brittany Schmucker/Adam Munday

Bye
Madison Chock/Evan Bates
Meryl Davis/Charlie White
Lynn Kriengkrairut/Logan Giulietti-Schmitt
Maia Shibutani/Alex Shibutani 

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Rostelecom Cup Schedule and Live Coverage

All Times EST.  I've bolded the events I plan to cover live.  Check back here and on twitter @icemusings for updates to this schedule.


Friday, Nov. 25
6:00 a.m.: Ladies short program
7:35 a.m.: Pairs short program
9:45 a.m.: Men's short program
11:20 a.m.: Short dance

Saturday, Nov. 26
5:00 a.m.: Ladies free skate
6:45 a.m.: Pairs free skate
8:25 a.m.: Men's free skate
10:25 a.m.: Free dance

Rostelecom Cup Dance Preview

Davis/White started off this season with a gold medal finish at Skate America and are 10ths of a point within the top score of the season.  They are truly in a league of their own with Virtue and Moir with great lifts, precise technical skills and emotion packed performances.  Their free skate is a joy to watch and is a perfect fit for them.  They have the 2nd best short dance, best free dance and 2nd best total score of the season.  They can qualify with a gold, silver or bronze finish.  They will also qualify with a 4th place finish if two of the following things happen: Bobrova/Soloviev finish 5th or lower, Tobias/Stagniuanas finish 2nd or lower and Carron/Jones finish 2nd or lower.

Bobrova/Soloviev also started off with a gold medal earlier this season at Cup of China, defeating the Shibutanis by a healthy margin.  Their free dance had some rough patches and I wasn't a fan of the distracting costumes but they've had time to work out some of these issues.  They have the 4th best short dance, free dance and total score of the season.  They can qualify with a gold, silver or bronze finish.  They will also qualify with a 4th place finish if two of the following things happen: Davis/White finish 5th or lower, Tobias/Stagniuanas finish 2nd or lower and Carron/Jones finish 2nd or lower.

Tobias/Stagniunas won their first career Grand Prix medal at Skate America and share coaches with with Davis and White.  Their programs are high energy and a lot of fun but lack the technical difficult of the top teams.  They can qualify with a gold medal.  They will also qualify with a 2nd place finish if two of the following things happen: Carron/Jones finish 3rd or lower, Davis/White finish 5th or lower and Bobrova/Soloviev finish 5th or lower.

Carron/Jones also won a bronze medal earlier this season at NHK Trophy.  They can qualify with a gold medal.  They will also qualify with a 2nd place finish if two of the following things happen: Tobias/Stagniunas finish 3rd or lower, Davis/White finish 5th or lower and Bobrova/Soloviev finish 5th or lower.

Weaver/Poje are competing in their third event of the season and already have two silver medals this season.  Their free dance is exquisite with beautiful lines, great lifts and wonderful performance quality, but an extended lift cost them the gold medal at NHK Trophy.  They have a great chance to qualify for the Final at this event and improve their rankings.  They have the 6th best short dance, 7th best free dance and 5th best total score of the season.  They can qualify if two of the above teams don't meet their qualification criteria, if they win a bronze medal and improve their score by 13.11 points or if they win a gold or silver medal.

Riazanova/Tkachenko are also in the mix with the 10th best short dance score of the season.

My podium predictions:
Gold: Davis/White
Silver: Bobrova/Soloviev
Bronze: Weaver/Poje

Bios of the competitors:
Weaver/Poje, CAN: They finished 5th at Worlds and 4th at Four Continents.  They won silver at Skate Canada and NHK Trophy.  They are the 2010 Four Continents Champions and 2007 Junior World bronze medalists.  Their personal best is 160.32.  She is 22 and he is 24.

Carron/Jones, FRA: They finished 12th at Worlds and 9th at Four Continents.  They won bronze at Cup of China.  Their personal best is 140.86.  She is 25 and he is 23.

Tobias/Stagniunas, LTU: They finished 14th at Worlds and 12th at Europeans.  They won bronze at Skate America. Their personal best is 132.58. She is 20 and he is 26.

Bobrova/Soloviev, RUS: They finished 6th at Worlds and are the reigning European silver medalists.  They won gold at Cup of China.  They qualified for the Grand Prix Final last season and finished 4th.  They are the 2007 World Junior Champions.  Their personal best is 163.52.  She is 21 and he is 22.


Pushkash/Guerreiro, RUS: They are the reigning World Junior silver medalists.  They placed 6th at Skate Canada.  They qualified for the JGP Final last season and placed 4th.  Their personal best is 126.63.  She is 19 and he is 20.

Riazanova/Tkachenko, RUS: They finished 6th at Europeans.  They placed 5th at Skate Canada.  Their personal best is 146.79.  She is 20 and he is 24.


Davis/White, USA: They are the reigning World and Four Continents Champions.  They won gold at Skate America.  They qualified for the Grand Prix Final last season and won gold.  They are the 2010 Olympic silver medalists; 2010 World silver medalists; 2009 Four Continents Champions; 2008 Four Continents silver medalists; and 2006 World Junior bronze medalists.  Their personal best is 185.27.  She is 24 and he is 23.

Rostelecom Cup Pairs Preview

Both Kavaguti and Smirnov and Savchenko and Szolkowy have qualified for the Grand Prix Final and are competing in their third event of the season and their second head to head competition.  Kavaguti/Smirnov have two gold medals and their Claire de Lune program was magical at their first event but lost some of its sparkle in the second event.  Kavaguti is also suffering from a shoulder injury and competed with muscle tape covering her back and arms at their last event.  Savchenko and Szolkowy opened their season with a gold medal finish at Skate America with a come behind victory after she fell on the triple axel attempt in the short program.  They have yet to land the jump but are getting credit for full rotation.  They dropped to 3rd at NHK Trophy after they aborted a lift at the end of their free skate.

Berton and Hotarek caught the attention of many at Europeans last season and finished 4th at NHK Trophy earlier this season.  If they can win gold or silver they'll qualify for the Final.  With both top teams already qualified, they may be taking this opportunity to try out some new elements which could lead to errors and give Berton and Hotarek the opening they need to qualify.

Three teams are making their debut on the Grand Prix circuit for the season.  Jones and Gaskell of Canada and Cain and Reagan of the United States are both coming up from the junior ranks.  The real spoiler will be Gerboldt and Enbert of Russia who have an incredibly elegant and classically Russian style on the ice and finished in the top 4 at Europeans last season but missed a chance at Worlds due to the depth of the Russian pairs discipline.

Volosozhar/Trankov, Kavaguti/Smirnov, Savchenko/Szolkowy, Zhang/Zhang and Takahashi/Tran have already qualified for the Final.  If Berton/Hotarek finish 3rd or lower than Duhamel/Radford will claim the last spot in the Final.

My podium predictions:
Gold: Savchenko/Szolkowy
Silver: Kavaguti/Smirnov
Bronze: Gerboldt/Enbert

Bios of the competitors:
Jones/Gaskell, CAN: They finished 6th at Junior Worlds.  They placed 6th at JGP Austria and 4th at JGP Germany last season to qualify for the JGP Final where they finished 6th.  Their personal best is 133.41.  She is 15 and he is 21.

Savchenko/Szolkowy, GER: They are the reigning World Champions and European Champions.  They won gold at Skate America and bronze at NHK Trophy to qualify for the Grand Prix Final.  They qualified for the Grand Prix Final last season and won gold.  They are the 2010 Olympic bronze medalists; the 2009 and 2008 World Champions; 2010 World silver medalists; 2007 World bronze medalists; 2009, 2008 and 2007 European Champions; and the 2010 and 2006 European silver medalists.  Their personal best is 217.85.  She is 27 and he is 32.

Berton/Hotarek, ITA: They finished 10th at Worlds and 5th at Europeans.  They placed 4th at NHK Trophy.  Their personal best is 164.83.  She is 21 and he is 27.

Gerboldt/Enbert, RUS:  They placed 4th at Europeans.  They placed 4th at Cup of Russia last season.  Their personal best is 169.95.  She is 22 and he is 22.

Kavaguti/Smirnov, RUS: They finished 4th at Worlds and are the reigning European silver medalists.  They won gold at Cup of China and NHK Trophy to qualify for the Grand Prix Final.  They are the 2009 and 2010 World bronze medalists, 2010 European Champions, 2009 European silver medalists and 2008 European bronze medalists.  Their personal best is 213.15.  She is 29 and he is 27.

Stolbova/Klimov, RUS: They are the reigning World Junior Silver Medalists.  They placed 7th at Trophee Eric Bompard.  They qualified for the Junior Grand Prix Final last season and won silver.  They are the 2010 World Junior bronze medalists.  Their personal best is 159.79.  She is 19 and he is 21.

Cain/Reagan, USA: They finished 4th at Junior Worlds.  They won silver at JGP Czech Republic and placed 6th at JGP Great Britain last season to qualify for the JGPF where they finished 5th.  Their personal best is 135.40.  She is 16 and he is 22.