Kaitlin Hawayek & Jean-Luc Baker | Page 4 | Golden Skate

Kaitlin Hawayek & Jean-Luc Baker

slider11

Medalist
Joined
Jan 12, 2014
The difference in their social media following is interesting. My guess would be that females tend to be more of twitter followers and are following a handsome young man like Jean-Luc for fun and flirting. But also interesting that Kaitlyn has a leg-up on Instagram. I also think that the British dudes who announce for the European ice dance media may have bulked up Jean-Luc's numbers as they have mentioned more than once that Jean-Luc's mother is a former British figure skater. That may have caused a bit of a Brit following. Kaitlyn is an extremely bright young woman. She may only be 18 and not have the punch of a Gracie (not yet anyway) but I think it's coming. I think she will become another Meryl - very smart and appealing in her own right. I'm watchin'!
 

caitie

Medalist
Joined
Sep 14, 2013
Wow, how did Jean-Luc get so many Twitter followers? Kaitlin tweets more than he does, so the discrepancy there is already kind of surprising (despite the fact that most FS fans are women, female skaters usually seem to do as well if not better in follower counts), but him having more than skaters like Jason and social media gurus like the Shibs is also surprising... Does he have some sort of celebrity past we are not aware of?? Very mysterious, lol.
 

tvuckic16

Final Flight
Joined
Mar 29, 2014
I love this team, I really do!! I hope they continue doing well and win a medal in 2018. I think they have something special as a team and many special qualities. Jean-Luc being cute is unfortunately not one of those...LOL... he seems super nice, but cute?
 

tvuckic16

Final Flight
Joined
Mar 29, 2014
I see Kaitlyn and Jean-Luc got assigned to Finlandia Trophy!! I am excited to see them compete before Skate America!!!
 

tvuckic16

Final Flight
Joined
Mar 29, 2014
Interested to see what these two have for us this year. Starting Friday in Finland! WP should win, should be a walk in the park for WP, but maybe HB can snag second here. I hope their programs are good, I am excited to see them.
 

lauravvv

Medalist
Joined
Jun 19, 2012
Country
Latvia
Interested to see what these two have for us this year. Starting Friday in Finland! WP should win, should be a walk in the park for WP, but maybe HB can snag second here. I hope their programs are good, I am excited to see them.
Stepanova/Bukin are out of Finlandia (because of Bukin's sickness), so the only rivals to Kaitlin and Jean-Luc there are Tobias/Tkachenko and Fournier Beaudry/Sorensen. Anything can happen, of course, but they should be able to beat those teams now.
 

Layback11

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 18, 2014
Stepanova/Bukin are out of Finlandia (because of Bukin's sickness), so the only rivals to Kaitlin and Jean-Luc there are Tobias/Tkachenko and Fournier Beaudry/Sorensen. Anything can happen, of course, but they should be able to beat those teams now.

:yes: I hope they do. After what happened to the Shibs, I'm in need of some ice dance fan-redemption :laugh2: and I'm hoping for a breakout season for them, so it'll be exciting to see how they do!
 

tvuckic16

Final Flight
Joined
Mar 29, 2014
What a great article! I was excited before but now I am really excited. I don't want to get carried away, I mean, I realize this is only their second season in seniors and they are still building and maturing as a team but I do think they have something special and I hope for the best for them.
 

tvuckic16

Final Flight
Joined
Mar 29, 2014
They did sound very confident, like they had a good strategy this year. I hope things turn out as planned. They want to make it to Worlds this year. I think they can, so I hope they have good programs. I would hope for them to finish in the top 10 this year.
 

slider11

Medalist
Joined
Jan 12, 2014
Before they can hit the Worlds they need to make top 3 in the US. They definitely made a splash last year in their rookie Senior year but now we have a newly energized Hubbell and Donahue to surpass. I'm optimistic but it's not a sure thing. I think they are up for the challenge!
They did sound very confident, like they had a good strategy this year. I hope things turn out as planned. They want to make it to Worlds this year. I think they can, so I hope they have good programs. I would hope for them to finish in the top 10 this year.
 

icedinn

wishing ksenia/kirill happiness 4ever
On the Ice
Joined
Dec 5, 2012
They ARE going to world's. When they do they'll finish in the top five or seven. I don't see why they wouldn't? To me hubbell and donahue's programs are bad, just doesn't fit for them. The shibutani's have "pleasant" dances once again but I don't think that'll quite cut it this year. Besides H/B have better dancing ability, speed, and glide, and are all around better performers. What really should happen is for them to get the nod over boring chock/bates but I won't get into that.
 

caitie

Medalist
Joined
Sep 14, 2013
They ARE going to world's. When they do they'll finish in the top five or seven. I don't see why they wouldn't? To me hubbell and donahue's programs are bad, just doesn't fit for them. The shibutani's have "pleasant" dances once again but I don't think that'll quite cut it this year. Besides H/B have better dancing ability, speed, and glide, and are all around better performers. What really should happen is for them to get the nod over boring chock/bates but I won't get into that.

Huh. I love them and think they have an x factor that could take them to the top sooner rather than later... but I don't think based on what I saw *last season* that they deserve to be ahead of any of the top 3 US teams. Technically and performance-wise I do not think they have anything on the current teams, and speed is hard to judge... I have heard H/D are slow and the Shibutanis skate small. I have also heard CB are the fastest/biggest skaters, but obviously Madison's edges and skating skills are generally accepted to not be up to the level of their competition. Tanith said Jean-Luc and Kaitlin skate big even though they are small, but the British Eurosport people said they weren't as fast as Nikita and his new partner at NHK. They don't appear to be as smooth to me over the ice as S/S and H/D are yet?

That said, they sound like they have been working really hard, so I expect and hope to see a lot of improvement this season. And I hope their programs are good! I'd love it if they made the World team.
 

tvuckic16

Final Flight
Joined
Mar 29, 2014
I agree with some of what caitie said, although I do think they are better than HD. I do not particularly like HD's programs, so if HB have something good I think they could surpass HD. HD's first competition scores this year were not even close to CB's scores at Nebelhorn and that was with HD competing in the US. So.... I have hope for HB. We'll see their programs soon enough and will be able to draw some conclusions then.
 
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