2014 Rostelecom Cup Short Dance 11/14

[Sam-Skwantch]

So happy to see I/Z come out strong in the SP. I admit to my bias toward Elena openly but it just feels good to see them skating well and being rewarded. To the Free Dance we go !!

 

[Skater Boy]

I am really impressed with I and Z; I would have had them much closer to Chock and Bates; I would have had their pcs higher but higher tes for C and B. I was actually disappointed with Coomes and Buckland - to me they didn't have the finish or spark I expected. I would have had them fourth behind S and K and maybe even S and B.

 

[Alba]

I am really impressed with I and Z; I would have had them much closer to Chock and Bates; I would have had their pcs higher but higher tes for C and B. I was actually disappointed with Coomes and Buckland - to me they didn't have the finish or spark I expected. I would have had them fourth behind S and K and maybe even S and B.

Same here. :thumbsup:

 

[ceg15]

It infuriates me how Marina recycled Tessa and Scott's 2010 OD music. Sorry if this has already been said, didn't read through the whole thread.

 

[Skater Boy]

I am wondering if Chock and Bates will or could become world champions this year and the French get second or third. Right now the scores suggest that is a real possibility I really hope Weaver and Poje and Shibutani's can bring it. Unless one of the Russian teams improves a lot they look to be in trouble. Still nice improvement for I and Z.

 

[skateluver]

Someone wrote about I/K:

She probably was a bit of a diva, but since he cheated on her, what do you expect ?

What!! How do we know that he cheated on her?? With who?? Wasn't she the one who had a relationship with Morozov. Ugh.. Sorry, but I can't get over the fact that she and Morozov were a pair. No matter how good she is and she is VERY good.

 

[MK's Winter]

I am wondering if Chock and Bates will or could become world champions this year and the French get second or third. Right now the scores suggest that is a real possibility I really hope Weaver and Poje and Shibutani's can bring it. Unless one of the Russian teams improves a lot they look to be in trouble. Still nice improvement for I and Z.

I think it could be P/C for the World title. They are a complete package. I really believe C/B will be on the podium this year.

I agree with the improvement of I/Z especially in the week since Cup of China. They brought fire and Ruslan seemed more on par with Elena. I really love them together as a team!

 

[Alba]

It infuriates me how Marina recycled Tessa and Scott's 2010 OD music. Sorry if this has already been said, didn't read through the whole thread.

I admit I didn't notice it. Now that you said I went and check. You're right.

I am wondering if Chock and Bates will or could become world champions this year and the French get second or third. Right now the scores suggest that is a real possibility I really hope Weaver and Poje and Shibutani's can bring it. Unless one of the Russian teams improves a lot they look to be in trouble. Still nice improvement for I and Z.

That could very well happen. It still remains to be seen B&S, and C&L with their modified program.
But ID this year look very unpredictable so far. C&B though look strong with the judges.

Someone wrote about I/K:

She probably was a bit of a diva, but since he cheated on her, what do you expect ?

What!! How do we know that he cheated on her?? With who?? Wasn't she the one who had a relationship with Morozov. Ugh.. Sorry, but I can't get over the fact that she and Morozov were a pair. No matter how good she is and she is VERY good.

She started the relationship with Morozov after they broke up, as a couple in life, with Nikita.
It has been said that Nikita went having an affair with a skater (I'm not mentioning names here) while he was still with Elena. Who knows though what really went on behind the scenes.
I think the person who wrote that comment was probably referring to Nikita's tryout with Viktoria behind Elena's back though. Not to their personal life story.
To me Nikita looks as much diva as Elena. That's probably one of the reasons it didn't work out.

Having said that, I don't think it's our business to discuss who slept with whom and when. That's their private life.
They are to be judged for what they do on Ice, IMO.

 

[Matt K]

I think it could be P/C for the World title. They are a complete package. I really believe C/B will be on the podium this year.

I agree with the improvement of I/Z especially in the week since Cup of China. They brought fire and Ruslan seemed more on par with Elena. I really love them together as a team!

I am wondering if Chock and Bates will or could become world champions this year and the French get second or third. Right now the scores suggest that is a real possibility I really hope Weaver and Poje and Shibutani's can bring it. Unless one of the Russian teams improves a lot they look to be in trouble. Still nice improvement for I and Z.

P/C only did one event thus far. Let us see if they can maintain their marks. Technically I/Z are still better skaters than P/C, especially the woman, so let's see if I/Z can gain some ground at Euros. At the very least we should wait until GPF for the picture to become clearer.

 

[skateluver]

Having said that, I don't think it's our business to discuss who slept with whom and when. That's their private life.
They are to be judged for what they do on Ice, IMO.[/QUOTE]

I agree with this. Besides, tonight I give it to I/Z. They looked fabulous, really loved their SD today. So much expression. I think S/K look really good together, but there was no fire or passion in their dance. I think I/Z should have won the SD. C/B are not my favorite couple, as good as they are. I guess it is a matter of taste.

 

[Matt K]

Having said that, I don't think it's our business to discuss who slept with whom and when. That's their private life.
They are to be judged for what they do on Ice, IMO.

Exactly. I cannot believe the people who thought I/K, including Nikita was so talented last year but this year say he suddenly sucks. Or how he was not as good with Elena as they perceived. Are they fans of the skating or the people?

If Elena "cheats" (I am not saying she will or did) on Ruslan or whonot, will she be denigrated to trash like Nikita is currently? Will she suddenly have horrible skating skills and bad ice dancing abilities? My guess is no, because she is a woman, but that is just my opinion. But never mind.

 

[Alba]

I agree with this. Besides, tonight I give it to I/Z. They looked fabulous, really loved their SD today. So much expression. I think S/K look really good together, but there was no fire or passion in their dance. I think I/Z should have won the SD. C/B are not my favorite couple, as good as they are. I guess it is a matter of taste.

I think Paso is not for Viki that much. Some people are suited more for certain dances and some not.
Besides this was their first appearance and maybe she was also a bit nervous.
They look pretty together though and can only improve.

It's going to be a long journey and only time will tell us.

 

[Ice Diva]

It infuriates me how Marina recycled Tessa and Scott's 2010 OD music. Sorry if this has already been said, didn't read through the whole thread.

ITA. It's been only 4 years - she must be running out of material.

 

[elif]

I thought you must be in hold in partial step sequence all the time. Is this correct? Sinitsina/Katsalapov's sequence designed to have some hold breaks. If it is true, that is very huge mistake, even for Zoueva... She really needs another coach who understand rule book...She clearly don't understand...

 

[Mao88]

SHORT DANCE - VIDEOS & RESULT - updated

1. Madison CHOCK / Evan BATES (USA) - 68.86 Short Dance, 2nd Copy, 3rd Copy, 4th Copy, 5th Copy
2. Elena ILINYKH / Ruslan ZHIGANSHIN (RUS) - 64.12 Short Dance, 2nd Copy, 3rd Copy, 4th Copy, 5th Copy
3. Penny COOMES / Nicholas BUCKLAND (GBR) - 59.55 Short Dance, 2nd Copy, 3rd Copy, 4th Copy, 5th Copy
4. Victoria SINITSINA / Nikita KATSALAPOV (RUS) - 57.96 Short Dance, 2nd Copy, 3rd Copy, 4th Copy, 5th Copy
5. Alexandra STEPANOVA / Ivan BUKIN (RUS) - 56.90 Short Dance, 2nd Copy, 3rd Copy, 4th Copy, 5th Copy
6. Alexandra ALDRIDGE / Daniel EATON (USA) - 54.39 Short Dance, 2nd Copy, 3rd Copy, 4th Copy, 5th Copy
7. Kaitlin HAWAYEK / Jean-Luc BAKER (USA) - 52.86 Short Dance, 2nd Copy, 3rd Copy, 4th Copy, 5th Copy
8. Rebeka KIM / Kirill MINOV (KOR) - 46.14 Short Dance, 2nd Copy, 3rd Copy, 4th Copy

 

[MarieM]

Last year on paper, every one in the skating world thought that Nikita was the winner in the split, going with a good "photo friendly" girl that would make them look "hot". That this was a match made in heaven.
The thing is we all thought he was as good as Elena, because despite some mistakes he made from competition to competition, he kind of looked like a solid partner.
It happens to be he's not that solid, worse, he makes me think of him as being another Alexis Miart and without his previous partner, he doesn't look solid at all and doesn't appear to have good basics. That's the real killer in here. Add to that all we said about how stiff and cold Vika is, and you have a team who just lost in one single program all the ooommph that was going for them. They were given the benefit of the doubt in the SD, it won't happen again soon.
The ridiculous press campaign Marina did them no service.

Elena now looks to be the only one with good basics in her previous partnerships, like Zahorski and Navka were with their partners. These are female dancer who can bring anyone to look "more than good" when the partners are less than average at best. Ruslan still isn't a match made in heaven. He needs to man up a bit. But he is a much stronger skater than Nikita is, he's steadier, and he doesn't look shaking on stuffs like lifts and steps and twizzles. So now, Elena is the winner. And working their butts off like they did, forgetting about the press and not going to the press at each possible time also worked more because people were not expecting much from them.
They also need to add difficulty and transitions, because their programs do look empty.

Stepanova is like Kohkolva and that's about all the positive I have about her sorry. She's like a gymnast, but skating basics she has none. Bukin is a rock star, but his basics are not that great either. I wonder why he's committed to Stepanova who has IMO no future. Their packaging is all wrong, it looks old fashioned. Sad because they do have some interesting things in their programs.

 

[WeakAnkles]

Thank you WeakAnkles. I've been wondering about this too, especially with your earlier Carmen observation about seduction. I thought Paso Doble was about the matador and the cape(where one partner portrays the matador and the other the cape). So shouldn't the seductive/passionate looks be aimed at the bull and not between the matador and the cape?

You'd think so, right? Eh, NONE of these couples have a patch on the best PD dance of all time. Torvill and Dean's (it's better than their Bolero):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsHt7DRxpxA

That dance is many things, but a mating ritual is not one of them. Drama and power, baby, drama and power.

 

[uhh]

Exactly. I cannot believe the people who thought I/K, including Nikita was so talented last year but this year say he suddenly sucks. Or how he was not as good with Elena as they perceived. Are they fans of the skating or the people?

If Elena "cheats" (I am not saying she will or did) on Ruslan or whonot, will she be denigrated to trash like Nikita is currently? Will she suddenly have horrible skating skills and bad ice dancing abilities? My guess is no, because she is a woman, but that is just my opinion. But never mind.

I still think Nikita is the best male ice dancer competing, maybe tied with Poje, and I don't think anyone on this thread is denying that he has great basic skating skills. But he has to work so much harder with Sinitsina because she is much weaker than Elena, so you lose the grace and fluidity that he had last season. He just doesn't look as good as he did the last couple of years. In the same way, Elena has scaled back her speed a bit with Ruslan, but I don't see the same drop off from her to get to the same level as her partner that I do from Nikita. The new team is also showing his lack of partnering skills - maybe he never developed it because you don't need to sell Elena, she does it herself, but he's just not relating to Victoria at all, or presenting her well - she's just the background in the dance for him to show his own skills. They don't seem like a team yet, and maybe it will come with time, but it is just not working yet.

Nikita's problem when he skated with Elena was the inconsistency, mainly with his twizzles, but also frequently missing the key points in the set pattern, or making silly mistakes that lost levels on lifts - even with his non-existent twizzle in the SD, they would have been on the podium at Worlds last year if he hadn't lost a level on the 2nd lift in the FD by missing a rotation. At the time people bought into the narrative of Elena being the lazy one, and speculated that Nikita was being inconsistent because she just wouldn't practice enough with him. Well, now we have Marina telling us how hard S/K practice, and yet Nikita still messed up the twizzles, didn't get any of the man only key points on the paso, had a level 2 lift... Maybe he was nervous, maybe it's the new partnership taking time, or maybe he's a skater with good basics but a terrible competitor when it comes to the finer technical details.

 

[MarieM]

I still think Nikita is the best male ice dancer competing, maybe tied with Poje, and I don't think anyone on this thread is denying that he has great basic skating skills. But he has to work so much harder with Sinitsina because she is much weaker than Elena, so you lose the grace and fluidity that he had last season. He just doesn't look as good as he did the last couple of years. In the same way, Elena has scaled back her speed a bit with Ruslan, but I don't see the same drop off from her to get to the same level as her partner that I do from Nikita. The new team is also showing his lack of partnering skills - maybe he never developed it because you don't need to sell Elena, she does it herself, but he's just not relating to Victoria at all, or presenting her well - she's just the background in the dance for him to show his own skills. They don't seem like a team yet, and maybe it will come with time, but it is just not working yet.

Nikita's problem when he skated with Elena was the inconsistency, mainly with his twizzles, but also frequently missing the key points in the set pattern, or making silly mistakes that lost levels on lifts - even with his non-existent twizzle in the SD, they would have been on the podium at Worlds last year if he hadn't lost a level on the 2nd lift in the FD by missing a rotation. At the time people bought into the narrative of Elena being the lazy one, and speculated that Nikita was being inconsistent because she just wouldn't practice enough with him. Well, now we have Marina telling us how hard S/K practice, and yet Nikita still messed up the twizzles, didn't get any of the man only key points on the paso, had a level 2 lift... Maybe he was nervous, maybe it's the new partnership taking time, or maybe he's a skater with good basics but a terrible competitor when it comes to the finer technical details.

You do contradict yourself a bit right?
If Nikita was on par with Cizeron or Poje, he wouldn't be mistake prone, he would be rock solid. He's not. He can't stay on his edges and when he tries, he's shaky. He gains speed on his flat and he can't stay in a position for long. That's not good basics sorry. And it's so obvious now that he has a weak partner.
What this new partnership shows more is that he was probably just an average ice dancer that shone because of Elena. Like Miart did with Zahorski. But without their golden goose, those two look less than average.

I am not sure Viktoria is the worst skater of the two as of now. I am sure they worked their asses off, but still, it doesn't show.

 

[elif]

Cizeron looks amazing. Poje is very good. Soloviev and Bates also looks good enough. I don't know If Katsalapov is best male partner in there, probably not even in top 5...