2018-19 Canadian figure skating

If a pair skater (lady) has good jumps she may venture into single skating. Lubov may not be a bad jumper, but jumping in pairs has the timing (matched) that is less sacrosanct in single skating. But she needs all the jumps and combinations, not easy but easier than doing dancing. For men it is close to impossible, unless the guy is a genius for rotation and jumping.
I really wish Lubov continued pair skating, but I understand it is not easy to find a partner, and some financial aid...

If Walsh/Michaud outgrow each other then I can see Lubov & Trennt potentially teaming up. Dylan has been a good friend and mentor of Trennt for a while now, from what I've gathered.

Sarah Tamura was training in Japan with Mie Hamada. Will this help her improve her skating?

https://twitter.com/sarahtskates/status/1011136936839245825

Misha Ge was in the GTA for a seminar and met up with Lubov and Cricket Club
https://www.instagram.com/p/BkgIyBkDO6_/

Joseph Phan was also there yesterday.

Keegan practicing 4A!

https://twitter.com/jacksonultima/status/1012170706958708738?s=21

oatmella said:

Keegan practicing 4A!

https://twitter.com/jacksonultima/status/1012170706958708738?s=21

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So cool!

oatmella said:

Keegan practicing 4A!

https://twitter.com/jacksonultima/status/1012170706958708738?s=21

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go keegan beautiful position

oatmella said:

Keegan practicing 4A!

https://twitter.com/jacksonultima/status/1012170706958708738?s=21

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As my grandfather always said, go big or stay home.

oatmella said:

Keegan practicing 4A!

https://twitter.com/jacksonultima/status/1012170706958708738?s=21

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BEAST MODE!!! Holy crap. :eeking:

Sigh, I suppose he’ll be another causality on the list of Yuzudaughter’s enemy male skaters.

Where are my "Keegan to the Olympics" bandwagon folks at? The beast has awoken!

ETA - The original post: https://www.instagram.com/p/BkjTxGJjQY6/

Holy cow!!!!

Mango said:

Where are my "Keegan to the Olympics" bandwagon folks at? The beast has awoken!

ETA - The original post: https://www.instagram.com/p/BkjTxGJjQY6/

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Thanks Mango...

This is much more helpful. The gif posted by Jackson has a weird stutter in it...which actually made me wonder initially if it was a cut of two separate attempts.

But from this post it's clear he's really rotating it and landing it. Much more so than the 4A attempts we've seen previously on GS. His knee is deep when he lands, but the free leg is well on its way back and he's able to hold the skating foot for a solid running edge.

I don't see that the harness is doing much more than giving him a tiny bit more air time to complete the rotation and landing as well as to lock in the correct memory safely.

So, what will it looks like with more than a day in new boots and blades?

Wow indeed!

I'm losing my cool here. KEEGAN!!! So cool! I'm watching it on an endless loop. Ooooohhhh boooyyy.

Mango said:

Where are my "Keegan to the Olympics" bandwagon folks at? The beast has awoken!

ETA - The original post: https://www.instagram.com/p/BkjTxGJjQY6/

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Omg, Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit is playing in the rink! That’s a bit of a weird twist, seeing how Keegan's coach was clearly a member of an 80s hair metal band, I think I was calling him Bret Michaels during the olympics and worlds. Ooh, new program mashup: 90s grunge and 80s death metal, together at last?

Keeeeggaaaaann!!!!!

SarahSynchro said:

Omg, Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit is playing in the rink! That’s a bit of a weird twist, seeing how Keegan's coach was clearly a member of an 80s hair metal band, I think I was calling him Bret Michaels during the olympics and worlds. Ooh, new program mashup: 90s grunge and 80s death metal, together at last?

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That sounds amazing and terrible and just utterly Make it happen Skate Gods!!!!!

SarahSynchro said:

Omg, Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit is playing in the rink! That’s a bit of a weird twist, seeing how Keegan's coach was clearly a member of an 80s hair metal band, I think I was calling him Bret Michaels during the olympics and worlds. Ooh, new program mashup: 90s grunge and 80s death metal, together at last?

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Keegan's coach was declared the coolest ever in Milan, at least in my sector during SP

SarahSynchro said:

Omg, Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit is playing in the rink! That’s a bit of a weird twist, seeing how Keegan's coach was clearly a member of an 80s hair metal band, I think I was calling him Bret Michaels during the olympics and worlds. Ooh, new program mashup: 90s grunge and 80s death metal, together at last?

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Yes, and I called him a David Lee Roth wannabe, 'cause the 80's were awesome, and big hair ruled!

Apparently Kevin Reynolds is doing another season? At least per the Grand Prix announcements. Now there's a surprise twist.

Colonel Green said:

Apparently Kevin Reynolds is doing another season? At least per the Grand Prix announcements. Now there's a surprise twist.

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My guess is that he wants to finally get that Canadian title.

cheerknithanson said:

My guess is that he wants to finally get that Canadian title.

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My guess, ...he must be smitten If his girlfriend is at the rink 6 hours a day, why not join her. And she's a 'beaut', BTW! Good luck, Kevin!

So, with the assignments out, my thoughts on Team Canada's prospects:

Keegan
This is a much more favourable setup than I was expecting, to be honest. Shoma is untouchable at Skate Canada, but silver is easily within reach with a good performance. Of the other contenders, only Kazuki Tomono (a genuine threat) and Jason Brown seem like particularly strong challengers, and if Keegan skates well I don't think Jason could beat him at present (even if he starts developing a quad, it's a tall order to have it all ready for SCI).

Rostelecom, more of a challenge, but I could see him on the podium there too with a strong effort.

Gabby
Sigh. Let's just say, I'm much less optimistic about her chances than I was yesterday.

Julianne & Charlie
Sui/Han will win Finland, and James/Cipres will obviously go into the Internationaux as the heavy favourites, but if Julianne and Charlie can work out whatever kinks were hindering them in Milan (and granted, that could just have been a fluke bad performance, since they were quite solid at the Olympics), silver is quite possible at both of their events. In Finland, Zabiyako/Enbert and Della Monica/Guarise are probably their main competition, and they're both beatable. In France, I'd say it's Yu/Zhang.

Kirsten & Michael
Perhaps even moreso than Julianne and Charlie, this is about as good a draw as they could realistically have hoped for. They get SCI without having to compete with Julianne and Charlie, and I'd say they're comfortably the default favourites for silver (and James/Cipres are not unbeatable for gold, either). At NHK, Sui/Han obviously in the driver's seat, but the biggest rival for silver is Zabiyako/Enbert, and they beat them in the free skate at Worlds while in less than ideal conditions. Honestly, I could easily see them making the Final.

Piper & Paul
The safest bet for the Final, by some way. I'd say they're the presumptive silver medalists at both SCI and IdF. Now they just need to hope that Hubbell and Donohue are worn out from doing back-to-back events and mess up at SCI, allowing them to win outright.

Miscellaneous
- It must be exciting for Carolane and Shane to get NHK as their second event.
- Lots of one-event people scattered around. Seems like there's going to be a battle amongst the men for that SCI host pick. I'd personally give it to Nick Nadeau, just because he's more of a prospective asset than a mostly-retired Reynolds or the sadly declining Nam (but if Nam can get it together, by all means).

Colonel Green said:

- Lots of one-event people scattered around. Seems like there's going to be a battle amongst the men for that SCI host pick. I'd personally give it to Nick Nadeau, just because he's more of a prospective asset than a mostly-retired Reynolds or the sadly declining Nam (but if Nam can get it together, by all means).

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Having that host pick TBD for the men will add a bit of spice to the senior men's events in Skate Canada's national summer series.

Both Nam and Nic are registered for Minto Summer Skate. So, we'll get an early signal on how they're doing this season.