2020 Europeans: Free Dance Recap | Page 3 | Golden Skate

2020 Europeans: Free Dance Recap

pearly

Record Breaker
Joined
Sep 1, 2017
I can't do timestamps for you because I don't have regional access but I think we're referring to the same thing (the twizzle exit of the OFst). In realtime, there seemed to be some debate about whether it was actually an OFSt in realtime since Gabi stumbled coming out of the twizzle and went on two-feet. I suspect that's where the original Pst label came from.

Oh yeah, it's at the end. Her twizzle is messy, she trips and saves it by stepping on her left foot when exiting. But Gui steps on his left foot at the same moment, it was the end of the twizzle and the end of the step sequence.
 

theharleyquinn

Medalist
Joined
Feb 25, 2014
Oh yeah, it's at the end. Her twizzle is messy, she trips and saves it by stepping on her left foot when exiting. But Gui steps on his left foot at the same moment, it was the end of the twizzle and the end of the step sequence.

Yeah they tried to cover it up, and they did a better job than, say, C/B yesterday in the RD of U.S. Nationals :laugh: But I think it was a reasonable thing to call as a judge if you saw it.
 

pearly

Record Breaker
Joined
Sep 1, 2017
I don't know if it was a mistake or a joke or she was making a point, but I thought it was poor taste.
 

Olibritt

On the Ice
Joined
Dec 12, 2016
Country
Spain
I don't know if it was a mistake or a joke or she was making a point, but I thought it was poor taste.

I took it as a joke too, she is the one always making jokes at the medal ceremony (with the plastic stars at GP France, for instance), trying not to be dramatic about the silver… I appreciated the effort but she probably forgot that, for the ones winning the gold , maybe it was not so funny. But not a big deal, IMO.
 

AlinaRina

Rinkside
Joined
Nov 2, 2019
I'm not usually a judging conspiracy theorist, but between the ice dance results at YOG and now Euros, I'm... confused, shall we say.
 

heartyxo

On the Ice
Joined
Aug 27, 2019
I doubt Gabi meant anything by stepping on the top of the podium. It was probably by default and that's not her fault.
 

Nocturne

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 12, 2014
I was watching it live in the arena and I dont understand ice dance or how the levels are decided. I just watch and enjoy the performances. And I have to say that even the 24th placed dance team perform the heck out of their program! Every ice dance team does. It's amazing and so much fun to watch. When the last group came you do notice that they are better and faster than those before them but I really cant support the sentiment that it is "so obvious" that someone in that top group is "in a league of their own".
Their qualities seemed about equal to my untrained eye. That's why I let the judges do their thing :)
Personally, I enjoyed everyone's dances, but my winners would have been Stepanova/Bukin. Their FD had me excited! So much fun!
For me, S/Ks FD is beautiful but a bit boring and P/Cs FD is just weird with the talking and not my cup of tea although I generally like them.
In conclusion, it was a great event to watch!
 

tulosai

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 21, 2011
After a long skating hiatus I went to see these. Live I understand the scoring at least in PCS. It's harder at least for me to assess the ice dancing tech live, I need to see the blades up close and even then sometimes I see it and sometimes I don't. Having basically not watched skating in two years I was frankly astounded at S/K level. They really floated across the ice, astounding speed and no hesitation. I gather from looking up recent results that their consistency has not improved which is a pity. They really have a lovely connection and quality in their skating. This is stupid but it was nice to finally see a couple look happy with their score too, even though at that moment they had to suspect it wouldn't be enough. Stoic face after stoic face in the K&C does get a bit depressing.

P/C didn't have the effortless quality I expected. They made it look hard at certain parts and the mistake on the steps was obvious in real time-I'm getting from the comments here maybe more obvious than it played on the screen.

Lots of other lovely surprises. The Spanish couples are both lovely and it's a real pity there's only one worlds spot. H/K are very sharp and crisp, it's a joy to watch them, and S/D are such amazing performers and storytellers.

S/B have improved enormously since I last saw them, could barely believe it's the same couple. Z/G have a very commanding presence. I'm sure I'm forgetting many others I should give shout outs to but it's really late here.
 

tulosai

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 21, 2011
I was watching it live in the arena and I dont understand ice dance or how the levels are decided. I just watch and enjoy the performances. And I have to say that even the 24th placed dance team perform the heck out of their program! Every ice dance team does. It's amazing and so much fun to watch. When the last group came you do notice that they are better and faster than those before them but I really cant support the sentiment that it is "so obvious" that someone in that top group is "in a league of their own".
Their qualities seemed about equal to my untrained eye. That's why I let the judges do their thing :)
Personally, I enjoyed everyone's dances, but my winners would have been Stepanova/Bukin. Their FD had me excited! So much fun!
For me, S/Ks FD is beautiful but a bit boring and P/Cs FD is just weird with the talking and not my cup of tea although I generally like them.
In conclusion, it was a great event to watch!

I so agree about even the bottom teams being super enjoyable! It was a fantastic event!
 

anonymoose_au

Insert weird opinion here
Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 22, 2014
Country
Australia
I doubt Gabi meant anything by stepping on the top of the podium. It was probably by default and that's not her fault.

Dunno about that, that was also Plushy's excuse, which as I recall didn't go over well.

But hey I'm sure people will get over it eventually :p ;)
 

CanadianSkaterGuy

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 25, 2013
The scoring was just so obviously dodgy. That 7 minutes wait to announce P/C scores. ISU you couldnt have made it more obvious you were tweaking the scores to ensure you got your pre designated champion

Well that’s just because the judges were waiting for their big fat e-transfers from the Russian fed to come through. :biggrin:

Jokes aside, good for S/K - they’ve had an up and down season. And good that P/C are humbled a bit so they stay sharp, even though they will should have won IMO. But you know that the Russian fed is pushing hard for S/K. Although if they were able to beat them, this might motivate the other teams to gun for P/C themselves.
 

Tolstoj

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 21, 2015
One thing that was a bit ignored about the long wait in the KnC due to computers, judges not sending their scores, etc. was that Guignard/Fabbri had to warm themselves up for all those minutes on the ice, and we saw that many times (like with Anastasiia Arkhipova at JGP Riga this season) in the past how much it can affect a skater's performance.

I hope ISU review the rules about warmup in those instances allowing the skaters to leave the ice and wait until the problem gets fixed and then let them having their 1-2 minutes warmup.
 

NAOTMAA

Medalist
Joined
Nov 9, 2014
One thing that was a bit ignored about the long wait in the KnC due to computers, judges not sending their scores, etc. was that Guignard/Fabbri had to warm themselves up for all those minutes on the ice, and we saw that many times (like with Anastasiia Arkhipova at JGP Riga this season) in the past how much it can affect a skater's performance.

I hope ISU review the rules about warmup in those instances allowing the skaters to leave the ice and wait until the problem gets fixed and then let them having their 1-2 minutes warmup.

I suppose the best thing to do is not allow any skaters onto the ice at all until the scores for the previous team/skaters are given. Then after scores are given they can go onto the ice and have their 1-2 minute warm up. I would think going onto the ice and then having to leave could be just as challenging to a skaters mental state as staying on the ice the whole time, but that's just me. ISU would probably think that takes too much time though

I doubt they will do anything until it happens to some really big name and there is an uproar if they skate bad.
 

MCsAngel2

On the Ice
Joined
Apr 10, 2019
Personally, I enjoyed everyone's dances, but my winners would have been Stepanova/Bukin. Their FD had me excited! So much fun!

For me, S/Ks FD is beautiful but a bit boring and P/Cs FD is just weird with the talking and not my cup of tea although I generally like them.
In conclusion, it was a great event to watch!

Agree 100% with your assessment of all three teams.
 

chuckm

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 31, 2003
Country
United-States
I don't study protocols super carefully, but according to TSL the French judge was blatant in her pro-P/C anti-S/K shenanigans in the RD so I'm really not sure why people act like only the Russians politick or push their own agenda. The same goes for the North American teams when they're into the mix. It's a political battle (and thus I don't take ice dance that seriously), but not one that's only fishy somehow when a Russian team is on top. Let's not forget P/C got a world record recently when Gabi went down on her knee during an element so it's not like they haven't been gifted by the judges.


The French judge was left off the FD but both Shekhovtseva and Makarova were on both panels, and the French judge was replaced by an Estonian judge
 

madison

Record Breaker
Joined
May 2, 2015
Neither PC or SK were foot perfect. Sinitsina had an almost stumble when entering into the steps, and their lifts are not smooth.
So this was a gift for them from judges' part. In other times, PC would have won this without any problems. But things are started to change, as new rivalries should be found.
SB are a couple for shows and TV (beautiful, attractive), but not competitions, where the quality of skating is the most important.
 

gordana

On the Ice
Joined
Sep 17, 2015
Country
Russia
I took it as a joke too, she is the one always making jokes at the medal ceremony (with the plastic stars at GP France, for instance), trying not to be dramatic about the silver… I appreciated the effort but she probably forgot that, for the ones winning the gold , maybe it was not so funny. But not a big deal, IMO.

But it was funny for fans. Someone in Russia has made a commentrary that Sasha was defending the top of the podium. :biggrin:
 

GoneWithTheWind

On the Ice
Joined
Dec 7, 2018
Country
United-Kingdom
One thing that was a bit ignored about the long wait in the KnC due to computers, judges not sending their scores, etc. was that Guignard/Fabbri had to warm themselves up for all those minutes on the ice, and we saw that many times (like with Anastasiia Arkhipova at JGP Riga this season) in the past how much it can affect a skater's performance. I hope ISU review the rules about warmup in those instances allowing the skaters to leave the ice and wait until the problem gets fixed and then let them having their 1-2 minutes warmup.

Totally agree with you here.
Although I don't think Charlene and Marco could have taken bronze after the skate Alexandra and Ivan had, unless they too had skated lights-out, the long wait has got to have affected them, even though they managed to still skate well. This wasn't their best free dance, they looked a bit nervous compared to previous competitions, and though that may have been due to the pressure of trying to get on the podium, nerves, the long wait or a combination of the 3, it cannot have helped them having to skate after all that waiting.
 
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