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Wednesday, the 18th: Ladies SP and Pairs LP

Before the Ladies SP we all managed to make complete fools of ourselves and behave like a bunch of 11-year olds :shuffle: Katja and Susanne are big fans of Kevin van der Perren, so when I noticed Kevin sitting in the stands on the other side of the rink only wearing a sleeveless shirt (or muscle shirt, how it's called in German), I pointed him out to them, which got Susanne really really excited and talking loudly about him (plus she of course got out her binoculars and I took some photos for them). Some time later he suddenly turned up in the row directly behind of us, which got Susanne even more excited obviously and there was a lot more loud talking and giggling (plus I explained to Steffi how I could 'unsuspectingly' take a picture of her with him in the background). Well when he was gone again, suddenly some woman in the row behind us handed autograph cards of Kevin to each of us and told us that the woman next to her who was sitting directly behind us too is Kevin's mom :shuffle: :o :o :o

Well hopefully we at least provided a very good laugh :lol:

And the autograph cards are very professional looking and nice :P

The Ladies SP then started with Nadege Bobillier. Looking at both her programs, she doesn't exactly choose the most exciting music (the SP music was something with female chanting), but at least (as written in the program as her strength, with a weird English expression) she seems to be really consistent and did 3s-2t, 3t and 2a cleanly in the SP. She also has a nice lyrical style and a face that makes me think of a Ballerina.

We were quite amused with the English in the program by the way (the program from Euros was free btw, but it also was pretty boring), since it was quite amusing, like they always translated „lift“ with „carried figure“ and similar stuff.

Julia Sebestyen did a Spanish program that was not very exciting, at least not with the skate she had on that day: 3f (bit shaky), 2z-2t and 1a on 2 feet. Oy.

Irina Slutskaya on the other hand delivered, like you expect from her: 3z-2t, 3f, 2a with the usual harder entry. I really love her Totentanz SP!

Selika (ok, I forgot her first name, am too lazy to look it up and totally made that one up from something that seems to be stuck in my memory and is probably totally wrong :shuffle: ) Krizmanic wore an orange/blue dress had rather good speed and power and was fluent, which is something I always really appreciate. She skated to oriental music and I liked the choreography (it didn't even have „move like an egyptian“ arm movements). Her jumps: 2a nice, 3s fall, 3t badly 2footed and underrotated.

Valentina Marchei skated a Carmen program with very good energy and presentation. She fell on the 3z, but nailed the 3salchow and 2a. She's always a fun skater to watch and I'm glad she got to be here even if things didn't go too well at Nationals.

Kirsten Verbist (again I'm not sure I got the right first name) had jump problems: 3s (step-out)-2t (shaky), 3l step out, 2a step out. Weirdly her jumps really didn't look so bad in the air, so I think she should have been able to at least pull off some of them. She was a bit stiff and her Por Una Cabeza program did not have too much interpretation.

Carolina Kostner had a new dress that I liked a lot (well either she had a new dress or I've just actually not seen her SP before at all, which is also a definitely possibility). She did a 2f-3t, 3l, 2a and as always skated with great speed and flow.

Alisa Drei did a nice 3t-3t and nailed the 2a, but only did a shaky 2flip. She had good energy, but the program could be more interesting.

Ksenja Jastjenski skated to Sabre Dance, which is a bit like when Wing & Lowe skated to Sirtaki, she didn't quite have the speed for it. She did an underrotated 2a with leg wrapping, 3s (2footed and I'm afraid it was also underrotated )-2t and fell on an underrotated 3l attempt.

Tugba Karademir did: 3t-2t with ease, 3s (late step out), 2a. As always she was great to watch, since she got great stretch on her spins and spirals and she skates very controlled and with nice interpretation. Steffi found her style (and costume) very North American. Her speed was only mediocre though (but still faster than Jennifer Robinson :P ).

Kiira Korpi unfortunately popped her lutz, but she landed a nice 3flip and 2axel. Her music was a bit zzzzz (ok really zzzzzz), but her interpretation was nice and she was one of the fastest skaters so far.

Martine Zuiderwik is really pretty and looked very tiffed. She had good flow and skated to some elevator version of ABBA songs. Her jumps 3s-2t nice, 3t, 2a. I really liked her, I also really like Karen Venhuizen (one of my favorite OES ladies), so that I was completely fine with seeing Martine instead shows how much I enjoyed her :) I also really liked that her jumps when landed are very nice and done with ease.

Viktoria Pavuk skated to Swan Lake and had one of the best skates so far. She had very good energy, generally only her spins tend to be slow. She did 3z-2t, 3f and a spiral into the 2axel.

Roxana Luca did 2t-2t and 1s and then gave up due to injury, so she had a very short Euros appearance. It was a pity, cause last year she had been so much fun and had had such a great time :(

Fleur Maxwell skated to a Tango and had her usual good spins and spirals, but her skate was quite disastrous: 3s-2t, popped toeloop with fall, 1a. (or it might have been a 3t-2t and a popped salchow, my notes on her jumps are totally messy) Her pretty style obviously does not save her when her jumps are not there.

Anette Dytrt had her usual up and down skate: 3z-2t nice, 3f fall, 2a nice. As always she had good speed and power and one of the best choreographies and footwork sequences.

Sonja Radeva is a really impressive skater for an OES ;) She has very nice overall quality and a lyrical style and I think she could easily make the LP at any event if she skates clean. Luckily she made the LP here even with a flawed skate: 2a nice, 3t fall, 3l nice. She was skating to blah music by Raul di Blasio, but had good interpretation.

Ivana Hudziekova did 2a, 3s and 1t-1t and had an unnecessary fall on some steps. She had a soft skating style and rather good basics, but she seemed nervous in this skate and her music was blah.

Idora Hegel had good spins and nice interpretation, but she finished a bit behind her music. Her jumps: 3z (2footed)-2t, 3l, spread eagle into 2a.

Cindy Carquillat had a rough time with her jumps, but I admired her for really selling her program all the way to the end regardless and I also enjoyed her spirals. Jumps: 3s (step out and extra turn)-2t, 3t fall, either a single or a double axel.

Teodora Postic wore a dark red dress and had one of the best skates among the OES ladies: 3l-2t, 3s, 2a. Plus she was finally a skater who had chosen more aggressive music (something called „Wild Time“).

Jaqueline Belenyesiova skated her Michael Jackson SP that we had already seen at Nebelhorn Trophy. She is rather stiff and slow and doesn't have very good basics, but usually she is able to land all the jumps she can do, especially in the SP, which is something many other OES ladies lack. Her jumps: 3s-2t, 2a, 3t.

Sarah Meier was definitely one of the biggest highlights in the ladies SP. I totally adore her short program, it is just such a lovely program, everything about it is just wonderful and she skated it clean here: 3f-2t, 3z, 2a.

Olga Zadvornova was a bit boring skating directly after Sarah Meier unfortunately, it would have been hard to look good after that one for nearly everybody. She skated to some type of techno Flamenco. Her jumps: 2f fall, 3l and 2a.

Elena Glebova had good speed and interpretation and a nice combo spin with a Biellmann. Her jumps: 3t-2t, 3z (fall out and hands down), 2a.

Elena Sokolova was another highlight with a great skate, she was very powerful: 3z-2t, 3l, 2a.

Lina Johansson doesn't seem to be in very good shape yet after her injury unfortunately, but she had some nice spins. 2A saved, 3f fall, 3t.

Ruta Gajauskate definitely had the most bizarre jump content in the SP, she stepped out of her 1a attempt and then did another 1axel afterwards. She did a 1s that was landed on the wrong foot and finally landed a 2loop. We supposed that Gintare Vostrecovaite must have retired or is injured, since I really don't seem a way how this skater could possibly have beat her.

Viktoria Volchkova wasn't even that slow at the beginning of her SP, but she then slowed towards the end, especially during the footwork. She isn't a very CoP friendly skater, but she had a good skate here: 3z-2t, 3f, 2a.

Stefka and I determined that Euros this year is the 4th time that we were seeing Andrea Kreuzer's X-Files SP live. However it was worth it, since today was one of her better skates: 3l saved-2t, 2a, 3t step out.

Ekaterina Proyda had a very Ukrainian hairstyle and reminded everybody of a young Elena Liashenko. She skated to some nice Morricone music and had a soft style and good flexibility. Unfortunately she seemed to be very nervous at her first Euros, which is too bad cause she's a very nice skater otherwise. Jumps: 3z saved-2t, popped flip, 1a fall out.

Susanna Pöykiö started rather fast, but lost energy/speed towards the end. She did 3z-2t, 3f and 2a, but both the lutz and flip were shaky (plus i think she put her hand down on one of them) and she just saved the axel.

Elene Gedevanishvili was definitely a fantastic way of ending the SP! I was not surprised about how good she is, since I had already seen her on video from Junior Worlds during the last 2 or 3 years, but still it was amazing to see her skate that well. She did 3z, 3f-3t, 2a. One thing that really impressed me about seeing her live was how polished everything she did was. On the videos from past years, she always looked rather sloppy, but this time she didn't give a sloppy impression at all. She doesn't have the ice coverage and „big“ movements of the older top skaters yet, but everything else is already excellent. Tatiana Tarasova was very excited and happy about her skate and I was very happy that Tarasova was coaching someone at Euros, cause it just would not be the same without her at the boards!

After the ladies SP we left the rink in order to check if the restaurant on the other side of the street is open, but it wasn't, so we walked back through the rain and mud (the sidewalks around much of the rink were totally disgusting, since they were not paved (!) and instead filled with some sort of red sand/clay – kind of like on a tennis court – which obviously turned into some disgusting red mud when it rained and ruined the bottom of half of my pants :scream: ) just to discover that they weren't letting people in at this point. Katja and Susanne saw a door labelled „Entry All Event“ right next to the doors that are usually open, so they said they'd try to see if it is open and successful got in through it. So Stefka, Belsornia and I tried to follow some seconds later, but got stopped by some security guy who told us to leave and go in through another door and got really quite hysterical when Stefka tried to explain to him that we got all event tickets and there just walked in through an openend door that is labelled „Entry All Event“ and that we couldn't enter through another door cause they weren't letting people in through them. But he just grabbed her arm and nearly yelled „You go outside!“ (she must have been posing some great security threat :P ), so we went outside and were frustrated. We saw that Katja and Susanne tried to resolve the situation talking to some people inside (he obviously must have oberlooked them walking in through the same door, since he had no problem whatsoever with their presence inside :P ) and they finally waved us to come in again. They had been talking to a (very friendly and very competent) lady who was working at the All Event Ticket corner, who completely agreed that we should get in and out without problems with our All Event Tickets, but who still needed nearly another 10 minutes to convince the security guy and another guy that we could stay inside even though we walked in through this highly unallowed door :drama: (there were plenty of other people inside the rink lobby and rink, who simply had never left in the first place after the CD). After we were successfully in the scary guy still spend quite some time talking animatedly to another guy and throwing stares of death into our direction, so we decided we'd rather try to avoid him from now on. Personally I think if people with All Event Tickets were not supposed to enter the rink through a door called „Entry All Event“, they should maybe take down the sign above the door and lock it :P Still we were glad that it was actually possible to find someone to talk to in Lyon when there's a problem, cause at Euros last year, there were always just volunteers and security people outside the rink who spoke no English and there was no way of finding anybody else to ask.

Generally I think the organisation in Lyon was really quite good for skating event standards. Most of the security people were fine, apart from that one guy and one other one, I think the security was just a bit inconsistent. Like at the beginning of the week when there were hardly any spectators, they'd nearly always check your backpacks (sometimes thoroughly, sometimes not at all thoroughly), but then towards the end of the week, for the Men LP, FD and exhibition, when tons of people got in, they didn't check anymore at all. Obviously that made things faster and it's not like I would have wanted them to search my backpack at all, but I just don't see the point of „the more people, the less security“. Also there were different staircases that connected the higher and lower levels of the rink and most of the time it wasn't allowed to use some of them, but I never quite could figure out the system behind it. Most of the time it was ok to walk down most of them, but they you weren't allowed to go back up and had to go to some farer away staircase. Plus twice I tried to walk up some staircase, with somebody checking my ticket and telling me that it's ok if I walk up there now, but later I have to take another staircase. Ah. Still it was all much better than Torino, where there was no possible choice of staircases, since you couldn't get anywhere but into your own section anyway, here at least it was possible to meet some people who were sitting in another part of the rink. Generally what I liked about the organisation in Lyon was
- generally better than in Torino
-edible French fries and Crepes
-mostly friendly people
-easy to take bottles with caps in even though it was supposed to be forbidden (well except for Susanne, who must have done something wrong cause her backpack was always checked and she always ended up with a bottle without caps)
-great seats

What I didn't like was just the weirdnesses mentioned above and that the seats weren't very comfortable (my lower back really starting hurting at the end of the days, worse than at most skating events).

Pairs LP:

Rennik & Saks unfortunately botched both of their throws, which is a pity since it's usually their best element and there's not too much left on the plus side when those are not there. They did sbs-2flip and 2toeloop and skated really slow. They have been in much better shape lately, so Europeans was quite a disappointing competition from them.

Kemp & King skated to „Art on Ice“ by Edvin Marton :lol: I think we heard this music about 3 times throughout the competition. The elements about which I took notes for them: sbs2loop, throw 3toeloop fall, sbs spin off synch, sbs2f – euler – 2t, throw3loop saved with determination :) with an extra turn after it, he stumbles on footwork, nice lifts. I think they had some nice connecting elements, but the flow between their elements is still missing in their skating at this point.

Dikthiar & Zalevski had a nice dramatic program to Troy (that suits their style very well), but looked a bit heavy and slow overall: throw3loop fall, sbs2axel where at least she had a problem, sbs2flip into 2t, throw3toeloop 2footed and step out, dramatic step sequence with fighting.

Beloglazova & Bekh did their Matrix LP, unfortunately I like neither the music nor the program. It's still really frustrating that they can never land their throws in competition when they are good in practice. Elements: nice 2tw, sbs2axel (he saves it)-2t, throw3loop step out, sbs2salchow, throw1salchow. They were slowing down somewhat towards the end.

Olga Prokuronova & Karel Stefl of course had a really scary fall at the beginning of their program, I'm glad that she was ok! I guess the advantage of seeing that live is that there aren't going to be one million slow motion replays of it :P It was of course a pity, since I would have liked to see their program and I hope they did not get to freaked out about what happened.

Spassova & Todorov tried the throw3salchow again, but she fell again. Apart from that they were solid as usually: sbs2loop, throw2loop, sbs2salchow (he touchdown) into 2flip, nice 2twist.

Fitze & Rex definitely seem to have dumped the obsession with all black costume, after the pink voids in their SP, their Braveheard LP costumes were also very colorful. Their elements: sbs2axel into 2t (she stepped out of the axel), sbs3t (I think he doubled his), shaky combo lift, off unison sbs spin, throw2axel, throw3salchow, interesting footwork. I think the SP left a much better overall impression, still they haven't really skated that well in a long time probably and they definitely very very happy with their performance.

Pla & Bonheur skated to „Angel and Devil“, a handover from their coach Stephane Bernadis. They had a very good performance and were very fast and powerful, I've definitely never seen them skate that well. I also like their Angel & Devil program much better than Abitbol & Bernadis' (who were always so overdramatic in their programs). I think just the ending of Pla & Bonheur's program could be choreographed to be more effective, since the program kind of ends on a not too exciting note. Elements: sbs3t (he stepped out?), 3twist, throw3loop saved, throw3salchow nice, sbs2salchow into 2?, good lifts.

Zagorska & Siudek had good lifts and throws, but unfortunately Dorota was still struggling and she doesn't seem to be able to land any jumps at the moment, I wonder if she's injured or still not 100% recovered from some past injury? I found their music to monotonous and I think I'm not too crazy about their move to the US anymore, since they now seem to be turning into a team with a generic North American pretty generic style. I hope they can come back stronger next season (they're staying for Euros in Poland, right?) and have a nice skate in front of a home crowd. I noted down: sbs2axel she stepped out – into 2t. Throw3loop, sbs3toeloop she doubled and stepped out of it, throw3salchow.

I was annoyed when the audience booed their marks (I suppose they wanted to see Pla & Bonheur higher), that always makes me wish that skating events were generally held in Norway or any country without many own skaters :P

Handke & Wende unfortunately had a really crap skate, which is a pity since they are much more stylistically refined than at the beginning of the season and I would have loved to see a well-skated version of their LP. But unfortunately he fell on the sbs3toeloop-2toeloop attempt and didn't do the combo, plus they both fell on the sbs2axel, she fell on the throw3loop and stepped out of the throw3toeloop :( I really liked their costumes though.

Petrova & Tikhonov did sbs2axel into 3toeloops (I noted down shaky behind it, but can't remember who was shaky on which of the jumps), sbs3salchows (I think she doubled), 2twist, throw3loop, throw3salchow and had their usual good lifts. I'm not too sure if it's such a good idea for them to do only a 2twist, of course their 3twist was never any good, but then I think their 2twist doesn't really look that stellar either :shuffle: , so if they tried the 3twist they'd at least send a message of going for all the hard stuff (of course maybe their 3twist never gets ratified under the CoP at all, in which case it makes sense to dump it). But I'm still mystified that they can't do the twist well at all. Overall they were solid in the LP, but not as fast and powerful as in the SP. I find this quite interesting, since it always is like that lately, they skate all out in the SP and are really fast and impressive and you just think WOW, but then in the LP, they never ever seem to try to skate all out, but are slower and less into it right from the beginning. I wonder if they think they won't have the stamina to pull off a LP like a SP, but then I still don't think skating the whole LP more cautiously is really a very good idea. I'm not that crazy about this LP of theirs, the music is a bit monotonous despite it being Fellini soundtracks and it just kind of drags on without anything interesting happening.

Obertas & Slavnov unfortunately had a really bad skate :( She fell on the sbs2axel and the sbs3toeloop, plus she had a touchdown on the throw3flip. They nailed the throw3loop though. They were a bit slow and cautious overall, probably due to the mistakes.

I never note down much about Totmianina & Marinin, since I just love to watch them skate so much, there's not much point in noting anything down. I think he may have doubled the salchow, but it obviously didn't really matter and I loved the very powerful footwork into the ending pose especially :) They are definitely one my favorite pairs teams ever!

Savchenko & Szolkowy had some little imperfections, but they skated very good overall and were powerful until the end. Since I had seen them struggling with this LP all season long and they looked a lot less powerful, fast and fluent than T&M at the ARD Gala, I had actually expected less from them here in the LP, I mean they were still slower and less fluent than T&M, but the gap wasn't as big as at the ARD Gala and they really were able to keep the power up throughout the program, which is necessary when skating to this music. So it was a very nice ending to the pairs LP (which was quite nice overall, even with some mediocre parts). Finally some of their elements: 2twist, sbs3t (she steps out) into sbs3toeloop clean. Throw3flip (2footed, saved), sbs2axel, throw3salchow.