2018 Nebelhorn Trophy: Thoughts and Highlights?

[gsk8]

Hi Folks!

Check out some of our clips and photos from the competition!

Now that the competition is over, what were your favorite highlights of the event? Feel free to talk about costumes, elements, scores, etc. Everything goes!

We are also looking for those who have a bit of writing skillz! We'd love to see a paragraph of each discipline highlighting the top three along with your thoughts. The staff will be watching and someone may win a free season pass to the competition forums if you haven't already got one Get those creative and technical juices flowing and show us your journalistic abilities! One-liners are welcome, just keep out the snark level down

A big congrats to the winners below who gave great recaps on previous events and earned a free season pass!

IceBallerina - JGP Linz *
Fluture - JGP Linz *
MalAssada - JGP Kaunas
Step Sequence4 - JGP Canada
chameleon - US Classic
Marius - Lombardia
Baron Vladimir - Ondrej Nepela Trophy
skylark - Autumn Classic

* Two were selected from Linz as there were no winners from JGP Bratislava

 

[rikaquegira]

As almost always, I only watched the Ladies event. :shame:

The highlight for me was Marin's gorgeous Free Skate!!!

 

[Spirals for Miles]

My highlight was seeing Alina come out and absolutely dominate. Was she nervous? Yes. Did she crumble and make mistakes the way she did last year? No. It makes me proud to see her doing so well and having such a good outing, especially after her struggle at worlds. I love watching her, and she's not only such a talented skater and athlete, but such a sweet and humble girl. I actually love all of her programs, and her dresses are just impeccable. Good work Alina! and coaching team

 

[skateluvr]

Alina is growing a bit and headed toward womanhood. I couldn’t help but notice the affect of Eteri on the very first seconds of her programs. Evgenia really skates differently. I couldn’t help but contrast the two. Her jumpslook very good and she’s a very pretty young lady. Her choreography is too busy but hey that’s the system and her handlers. I wish I could see her with a different choreographer. I hated her gala program last year. This girl can do anything. I just hope I see a truly beautifully presented program with space and memorable moments. She is consistent.

I do think Bradie can match her. Neither girl will be a Mao or Caro in this system - they are young and careers are short. Esp Russian ladies. Very short. But she did well. Mai is still so little girlish. The Japanese don’t sexy up their teens. Marin and Mai seem so young. I love watching Marin Honda as she is lovely and her style is pleasant. I don’t think she is ever going to be a consistent good jumper but hey raf is a jump coach right?

Again missed opportunity for Mariah Bell. But as always great classy dresses. It is hard to hope she will become a fighter who controls her nerves. She is 22 sadly. She is darling and I guess I felt sad for her and Alaine. I think Alaine should move on. Maybe Mariah as well. There’s all the Russians a few Japanese and well Bradie. So I’m thrilled at what Bradie did in one season. I actually like watching her and I have confidence she can podium at any event.

The men I didn’t really watch. Piper and Paul have a great tango program. As always she looks fab. Love them.

Only saw the Kneirims Lp and really didn’t like it. Didn’t watch anyone else. With the retirements of great teams in pairs I really like very few pair teams. The Russians under Trankov should be great this season. But in pairs there isn’t much. The French team I like usually just haven’t seen them this year.

I think the whole sport is pretty blah and meh after an Olympic year. So far Bradie and Alina got my attention and seem ready to slay. I hope we have a few breakout stars. Because so far it is very hit and miss for great viewing.

 

[yume]

So, the ladies event was the most interesting.
Zagitova: Glad to see her skate clean. Scores are jokes, but she started her season strongly. I call Daniil Gleikhengauz a technographer. Because i've never seen choreos being that technical. Just watch the choreo sequence in carmen. 1s spiral, 1s ina bauer, 1s spread eagle in an almost cantilever position, with all transitions that we can imagine between elements. There is clearly not any intention to create a moment. This is done for points. But at least it's a coherent program.
Mai was so lovelyyyyyyyy. Exactly the same error than her CS last season Her SS deserved more recognition. Good season debut.
Loena want to make a splash this season and we see it. The girl is a star. She skates with all her body and soul. Finally a 3-3 and what a 3-3!
Marin FS is the most beautiful for me. The TES score is a bit harsh but i think she will improve during the season.

In men, the star was that 3lz-3F combo by Artur Dimitriev.

Gilles/Poirier RD is a jewel.

 

[NymphyNymphy]

The judges were very generous with the GOE's compared to Autumn Classic. Alina was the highlight but I really hope she doesn't crumble under the pressure in the Grand Prix circuit.

 

[rikaquegira]

Oh, how could I forget the biggest highlight from this event!
Savchenko and Massot's interesting gala!!!!

 

[apgold]

Oh, how could I forget the biggest highlight from this event!
Savchenko and Massot's interesting gala!!!!

Does anyone recognize the music they skated to? Sounds familiar.

 

[moriel]

Zagitova's gala was the main highlight of the event for me.

 

[Sensation]

It was great to see Alina come out with such a dominating performance after the disappointment at Worlds.

 

[colormyworld240]

After watching Alina's amazing gala, I seem to have forgotten all other programs, including her competition ones. It was spectacular.

Actually, I also remember Dimitriev's 3Lz-3F, that was mind-blowing and I didn't really understand it at first.

 

[jillredhand]

Men: Love to see Keegan win things. I want him to win lots more things!

Ladies: I didn't mind either of Alina's competition programs- not very interesting, but not bad. I think they'll get better as she gets into them over the season. But her gala! Umm, yes please more goth Lara Croft programs. I am very much more on board with Alina winning everything if we can watch that instead of the tiger now.

I liked all the Celine Dion in the Ladies' short. Clearly it empowers clean skating; Loena grabbed me and made me pay attention.

I watched hardly any of the Pairs or Ice Dance, but Gilles/Poirier's FD was unbelievably, jaw-droppingly good. There's a ton of room in dance for teams to move up this year, and Piper and Paul are not messing around; if there's any justice in the world, this FD is going to get them to the very top.

 

[TontoK]

The skating was OK.

The real fun is dishing with Mrs P and other friends in the live competition threads.

If you haven't splurged on the $6 Golden Ticket, then please consider it.

 

[Mrs. P]

Does anyone recognize the music they skated to? Sounds familiar.

It’s “spiegel im spiegel“ The Shibutanis used this music as part of their Evolution FD in 2016-2017.

 

[Heleng]

The highlights for me were Piper and Paul’s RD and FD. The appear to have reached another level with these programs. And I wouldn’t be surprised if their Starry Night FD does for them what Fix You did for the Shibs. Also memorable for me were the Parsons’ performances and Mai Mihara’s skating skills, especially in her FS.

Edited: Shame on me for omitting this, but Fear and Gibson’s FD was also memorable for me — so refreshing and fun, and their delivery of it was outstanding!

 

[moriel]

The highlights for me were Piper and Paul’s RD and FD. The appear to have reached another level with these programs. And I wouldn’t be surprised if their Starry Night FD does for them what Fix You did for the Shibs. Also memorable for me were the Parsons’ performances and Mai Mihara’s skating skills, especially in her FS.

I would disagree. I love their RD, but the FD looked a bit like they are trying to be P/C, except they are not P/C. It also lacks a bit of the build up and power that Fix You (Shibs) had, so dunno.

 

[century2009]

Weak showing for the men, and Keegan deserved the win. The women were more exciting with the competitive spirit of all the main girls. Congrats!

MEN
Tim Dolenky: Solid FP, but very common. He is a bigger man, but can see the power. Wish he had more personality from his skating because it feels like he is still learning. But a solid comeback from a disappointing short.

Alex K: 1st year as a senior and will give him a pass. Also did better in the FP compared to the SP. I see more personality in him and coming out a bit more in the FP. He feels junior at the moment and needs a lot more adjustment and more quads to make be a "senior" man.

Keegan: Like the new SP. Fits him like a glove and strong showing here more so in the SP than the FP. I like the direction of his programs. He knows what he is and his strength and plays it off well. He probably needs more quads to be competitive as not yet getting the high PCs. Will he land a quad axel?


LADIED
Alina: Came to play. There is too many music cuts in the SP, but she is showing her strength technically. I do think she was completely overscored in PCs. I am not a fan of the overdone Carmen (3 Russian singles are doing it this season alone), but she showed why she can still be at the top. I really wish she did a more original FP so she can be a bit unique because I dont think these music choices are doing anything for her.

Leona: Also, came to play. The 2 programs are solid and very her and great showing in the SP more than FP, but can grow into these programs. I never would think that this particular old Celine Dion song would work in Figure Skating, but it was surprisingly good. She is showing strength here and glad there is a European woman that can be competitive with the rest of the Ladies. She can be a dark horse.

Maria Bell: Her SP was very surprisingly good, and it was another Celine Dion song. Good for her. She has grown a lot and if she can just be consistent, she can finally be a contender for US ladies. She has a lot of work in her FP as was very disappointed, but still early so can only get better technically.

Her dresses are lovely on her.

 

[Colonel Green]

Ladies
- Alina Zagitova's short program doesn't do anything for me, but her free program was solid.
- Loved Loena Hendrickx's new short program, and I don't mind seeing the free reused, though obviously this wasn't the best outing for that. Anyway, very happy she made the podium; one of my longstanding wishes for this season is that she makes the podium at Europeans, so let's get on that!

Men
- Keegan Messing winning, and delivering a very solid free skate, even if be tripled a quad.
- Majorov's delightfully strange free program.
- Dmitriev's history-making 3Lz-3F combination, as previously noted in is thread. Every so often people still manage to find something different.

Ice Dance
- Piper and Paul! They've been teasing that free program for months now, so it was great to finally see it. If they're going less experimental this year (though it's still a Van Gogh tribute set to a cover specially created for them by busker artists that Carol Lane found on YouTube, so for most teams that would on its own be experimental), it's still very distinctive, especially all the twizzle positions they're trying.

 

[Manitou]

I have no more to say about the skating, everything has been said already, but I don't understand why the attendance was so low. There are more people on high school obscure sporting events than there were on this one. Even if all the skaters' parents and siblings had come then there would have been more people than what we saw on the screen. It must be really uncomfortable for a skater to skate and then bow to mostly empty seats.
I understand it's not soccer, but either figure skating is really declining in popularity in Europe, the choice of the place was just wrong, or the advertising was terrible. Or all of it.
For me watching an empty arena behind the skaters was simply disturbing.

 

[mau]

I have no more to say about the skating, everything has been said already, but I don't understand why the attendance was so low. There are more people on high school obscure sporting events than there were on this one. Even if all the skaters' parents and siblings had come then there would have been more people than what we saw on the screen. It must be really uncomfortable for a skater to skate and then bow to mostly empty seats.
I understand it's not soccer, but either figure skating is really declining in popularity in Europe, the choice of the place was just wrong, or the advertising was terrible. Or all of it.
For me watching an empty arena behind the skaters was simply disturbing.

I remember that someone from Germany said on a thread that it’s not easy to get to Oberstdorf. I doubt they’ll change the location tho, it's like a tradition since the competition is named after a mountain in Oberstdorf.