2015 ISU Challenger Series Confirmed

ice coverage · Apr 3, 2015

CanadianSkaterGuy said:
Anyone else think Mordavian Ornament was meant to be Mordavian Tournament and something got lost in translation? I like Ornament better though.

The name of the event in Russian is "Мордовские узоры," per the Russian fed's press release yesterday re the Challenger series.

http://fsrussia.ru/news/966-mezhdunarodnyj-turnir-mordovskie-uzory-projdet-v-saranske.html (Apr 2)

The most common translation of "tournament" would be "турнир," AFAIK.

So my hunch is that Ornament is the intended English translation of узоры.

Florentina · Apr 3, 2015

NMURA said:
I assume Moscow is considered "far" for most of the Europeans and the city called Saransk is "further away" from Moscow. The negative images surrounding Russia (olympics and international politics) are the additional disincentives.

Well with the variety of European events to choose from, it's only logical that skaters based in Europe would choose events close by. But if you travel from let's say Canada, it doesn't really make a difference, except your personal preference. That was the only thing I was trying to stress, it's not Saransk being really far away or unaccessible, it's people most likely feeling more comfortable travelling to CEE than Russia.

peg · Apr 3, 2015

Based on google translate, узоры means patterns or tracings, so perhaps the notion of "figures" from figure skating.

Ornament is орнамент in Russian - basically the same word just written in Cyrillic. Although узоры can also translate into ornament, but from what I see, more in the sense of ornamentation.

Flaya · Apr 3, 2015

Ok, so we have 10 Challenger Events.

Personally, I would ditch the US and Russian events, these countries already organize the Grand Prix events. I think the Challenger Events should be reserved for other countries.

Having said that, why isn't Finlandia incorporating the Pairs event, shouldn't that be mandatory to get a Challenger event?

I also would have loved to have a bit more diversity, as example events in Korea or even Australia incorporated, we have 9 European events out of 10.

As far as Saransk goes, it's even more random than Salt Lake... Liza T. comes from an area not too far from it (Udmurtia).

peg · Apr 3, 2015

Flaya said:
Ok, so we have 10 Challenger Events.

Personally, I would ditch the US and Russian events, these countries already organize the Grand Prix events. I think the Challenger Events should be reserved for other countries.

Having said that, why isn't Finlandia incorporating the Pairs event, shouldn't that be mandatory to get a Challenger event?

I also would have loved to have a bit more diversity, as example events in Korea or even Australia incorporated, we have 9 European events out of 10.

As far as Saransk goes, it's even more random than Salt Lake... Liza T. comes from an area not too far from it (Udmurtia).

Ditching the US event would make it even more difficult for North American skaters to compete in the series. It's bad enough that they got rid of the Canadian event. It's really easy for European skaters to travel to international competitions because of the small distances in Europe, and this would be North American skaters at an even grater disadvantage.

I too would like to see at least a couple of events in Asia. It would also mean that Asian skaters wouldn't need to travel as far to compete. Right now, it's very disproportionate with Europeans having much easier access to these events.

GF2445 · Apr 4, 2015

I wish they did- 3 non europe and 7 europe.

SkateSkates · Apr 4, 2015

Also, so many of these events are in central/East-central Europe. Why not Cup of Nice?
I agree - there needs to be an Asian event. They could schedule it for the week after NHK, CoC, or CoR so it wouldn't be too far a distance for skaters to travel if they have already traveled all that way for a GP.
It's sad to see the Canadian event go away as well since so many top skaters train in Canada and in the Detroit area which isn't far. Oh well.

uhh · Apr 4, 2015

The challenger series are awarded to the federations that apply to hold the events. I am sure the ISU would prefer to have a bigger geographical spread, but there's not much they can do if countries who could be capable of hosting like Canada, China, Japan or South Korea don't bid to have an event.

A.H.Black · Apr 19, 2015

Coming late to the thread - just a comment.

Many posters comment often on the lack of people in the stands and the lack of promotion locally for the senior Bs. We heard from the organizers of the Salt Lake Classic last year. They were told that the powers that be (not certain if that was the ISU or USFSA or a combination of powers) did not want a lot of promotion or attention paid locally to these competitions. They were just fine to have those competitions be small and unnoticed.

Personally I find it disappointing that the senior Bs are not more widely distributed over the world. I'm very glad to have the Classic in Salt Lake for at least one more year. The benches are hard and my bum gets sore, but seeing programs for the first time live, is worth it.

NaVi · Apr 19, 2015

I didn't think an event in Saransk Russia would be a good idea because of traveling distance(and still think they may have problems getting enough countries to show up), but I will say that it seems to be the most well attended venue by the public for internal Russian events and the rink there is Mihail Sharov(a photographer's) favorite.

humbaba · Apr 19, 2015

A.H.Black said:
Coming late to the thread - just a comment.

Many posters comment often on the lack of people in the stands and the lack of promotion locally for the senior Bs. We heard from the organizers of the Salt Lake Classic last year. They were told that the powers that be (not certain if that was the ISU or USFSA or a combination of powers) did not want a lot of promotion or attention paid locally to these competitions. They were just fine to have those competitions be small and unnoticed.

I've read the same thing from other sources and I have to wonder why. I can see TBTB wanting to keep early season comps low-key and less pressure for all concerned. I just don't understand them wanting the events to fly under the radar almost completely. Don't the skaters need the opportunity to perform before crowds and experience routine competition conditions? Why would they intentionally try to have a stealth competition?

dorispulaski · Apr 20, 2015

They want to grow a garden of conspiracy theories?

We will try to cover them here on GS in any case.

Ice Dance · May 7, 2015

Perhaps what they meant was that the venues shouldn't feel a lot of pressure to have to fill the stands. That the ISU & USFSA are just grateful to have a host for these smaller events. It doesn't necessarily mean that an audience wouldn't be appreciated.

Layback11 · Aug 2, 2015

I must not be the only one who thinks Mordavian(Sp?) Ornament sounds like a European sports car or something like that?

Or even a disease... :slink:

It's so fun to speculate about what weird things could potentially be called "Mordavian Ornament," lol :drama:

LRK · Aug 3, 2015

Layback11 said:
I must not be the only one who thinks Mordavian(Sp?) Ornament sounds like a European sports car or something like that?

Or even a disease...

It's so fun to speculate about what weird things could potentially be called "Mordavian Ornament," lol

Well, I can't say that I've found diseases to be very ornamental.... Maybe some kind of jewellery? Some old antique jewellery laden with historical significance? Maybe some kind of tiara/crown? And infused with gems - it would be nothing without a multitude of gems!

dorispulaski · Aug 4, 2015

Maybe it just means "trophy"

LRK · Aug 4, 2015

dorispulaski said:
Maybe it just means "trophy"

Pfft! You kill-joy! Here I was busy imagining this history filled with betrayal and bloodshed... Suppose you're right. (grumpily -

)

StitchMonkey · Aug 4, 2015

Well Russia does seem to think Christmas ornaments and figure skating go together, remember all the lovely footage from Russian Nationals? Maybe they can give out really gaudy gold, silver and bronze Christmas ornaments to the winner.

hanca · Aug 4, 2015

Maybe the footage of the Christmas decoration was because Russian nationals do take place during Christmas time. It usually start on 24th or 25 December.

Layback11 · Aug 4, 2015

LRK said:
Pfft! You kill-joy! Here I was busy imagining this history filled with betrayal and bloodshed... Suppose you're right. (grumpily - )

But of course!

Long ago, Princess Elena I of Mordavia arranged-married to Prince Nikita I of Crazytown. Indifferent to this arrangement, Elena obliged, only to be devastated when Nikita ran off in the middle of the night. The seething princess ordered a full-scale manhunt for the backstabbing nutjob, but in the peasants' crazed search for the one who had so wounded their beloved princess, the wrong man was convicted. Some random guy named Ruslan was arrested in Nikita's place by somebody who had no idea what Nikita actually looked like. In return for his freedom, he gave the princess an ancient pendant that had been in his family for centuries. Though they never met again, she never forgot the man they thought was Nikita, so she passed the necklace down to her children, and they to theirs, to remember him by. It survived over twelve wars, always secreted away to a trusted palace official when it was in danger. But once, it did not return. (Nobody searched for it, knowing that one day, it would find an owner who needed it more than they.) It had ended up in the hands of a young girl named Yulia, who discovered that it had an incredible power: the ability to give the owner the skill to become an elite athlete. When Yulia first set foot on ice, there was no going back. The necklace began to work its magic. And some magic it worked! She became one of the greatest figure skaters the world had ever seen.

When Yulia won Olympic (team) gold, she told her teammates about the pendant. Upon learning its history, she returned it to Elena Ilinykh (this one was Elena XVII). The Mordavian Ornament had returned to its rightful owner. The characters of its colorful history could rest in peace knowing its mission was complete.

And as a reward for its gift to the world, the storied jewel became a skating event.

2015 ISU Challenger Series Confirmed

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