2021 World Team Trophy - Day 1

[Amer]

Would love to see a video of Liza's SP.
But I'll be patient until it (hopefully) gets uploaded somewhere.

 

[Seven Sisters]

There were some confusion if it was Chris or Simon commentating today.

If you watched the ISU official YT stream (like I did) it was Simon.

But I just saw a Eurosport clip of Anna's skate and the commentator was Chris.

So everyone was right...

I thought it was Simon I was hearing on the NBC Peacock broadcast, but wasn’t sure. I have the impression that the Uncle who tends to state the obvious (“he’ll need to bear down here if he wants a good score,” ”he’ll have a bit of ground to make up in the free,” things like that) and who has a bit more trouble with pronouncing names, is Simon, but I’m never sure. They never do identify themselves. But I wish they would, since I enjoy all the British Eurosport uncles, and would love to be able to match the name with the voice! They have a sweetness and enthusiasm that can’t be beat.

 

[Jontor]

Would love to see a video of Liza's SP.
But I'll be patient until it (hopefully) gets uploaded somewhere.

Her short from Eurosport is available on YT. At least for me.

 

[Amer]

Her short from Eurosport is available on YT. At least for me.

Yay! I found it thank you!!

 

[ladyjane]

Just been watching the men's, and there were quite some surprises for me. I was pleased to see Roman skate well, showing his wins at Nationals last year and the Skate Canada Challenge this season were not a fluke. Good SP, enjoyable to watch. Alas, this did not apply to Nam. I had hoped these two would both would be able to skate well here. Watching Daniel was painful, and he seemed to be in pain himself after those nasty falls. Really a pity, he can do so much better. I felt for him! I always enjoy Adam's Star Wars programme, and despite some small mistakes, he delivered. I loved the French in the Team Booth. Evgeni did it again. Good skate, not as polished as some but nice to watch all the same. Mikhail did good too. I've seen him skate the programme better, but I still thought it was nice to watch anyway. Shoma definitely had an off day, although he could still smile (and shallow me was thinking that he really is good looking when he smiles). Jason was the best of all the men (personal viewpoint). I know, there were no quads in the Sinnerman programme but he does execute his jumps well (should be high GOE) and everything else is just superb. And, let's be fair: if all those other things Jason does were easy, why doesn't anyone else do those just as well as he does? I liked Yuzu and Nathan equally. Yuzu entertained me mightily, although I put a hand to my head in shock when he landed his 3A - that was close! Nathan skated his short better than ever. I like his movements around the jumps, nice performance.

Looking forward to the FS. Hoping some of the men who were less successful today, can turn it around somewhat (but of course I wish the others to skate well also!).

 

[apgold]

I think Yuzuru is having issues with his 3A due to his practicing the 4A. I hate to see his 3A suffer because it's a thing of beauty.

He had the reflexes of a cat to land it!

 

[[email protected]]

As I understand it, Russian names has often the hook on the second syllable. Maybe Simon has learnt that.

But it's not the case with Shcherbakova as we've heard many times in Russian competitions.

Maybe some Russian language speaker can help us out here.

ShcherbAkova - Chewbacca. That was a good one.

 

[SkatersWaltz]

Hard not to send Keegan when he went into Worlds with all that pressure and earned the spots. If the other guy doesn't get it at Nebelhorn I don't think they will give the spot to anyone but Keegan.

Just curious but why do you think it's going to be so hard for Canada to confirm that second spot at Nebelhorn. I would think they would have a pretty good chance.

 

[ladyjane]

Here I am again, having now watched both the women and the Rhythm Dance.

I am totally in love with the Italian girls/women. I really enjoyed watching them. Not the level of the second group of skaters but interesting and very, very watchable! I felt sorry for the French. They tried, but today wasn't their day at all. I have mixed feelings about the Canadians. Alison was a bit slow, though had a nice programme, and Gabby...what can I say? I've seen her do worse, but for some reason I had my hopes up that she would be back in form or something. Not that it was bad what she presented, but I'm still hoping for that form she had in 2017. Not her fault, just a bit of a let down to my own expectations. Well, regrettably Karen was not her WC self though still - despite a fall - enjoyable. Bradie was back! I rather like this programme for her, and she was back to whom she was at her Nationals. Yay! Kaori was fantastic. Powerful - even in a programme that isn't about power. A really great skate. Rika did not perform at her best (she was leaning towards an almost horizontal position in her 3A, and fell), but I understand she was in pain. Some people can fall gracefully and just continue as if nothing's happened (Mikhail Kolyada is good at that) but not Rika, I am sorry to say. Taking her pain into account she skated rather well, but of course not up to par. Lisa showed us one of the best 3A's in the business - and that's taking the men's 3A's into account just as well - and skated excellently. She misses a bit in the transitions but I admire her so much! I just love it that this woman is still up there, and I keep seeing her tears at the WC in the K&C although this was a very different experience. I'm not really a fan of Anna's (sorry Anna fans) but today she managed to impress even me, and not because of the jumps but the rest of it. Nicely done Anna.

The Rhythm Dance was less spectacular. I was a bit disappointed by Carolane and Shane's skate. It was good, but considering they were seen as the up and coming a few years ago, it just didn't hold up for me. Why do they still call Takero, Tim? He's Japanese now and has a Japanese name. I wish that was the name in use. A good skate for them. I really enjoyed watching Adeline and Louis. They're no Guillaume and Gabrielle but had a lovely dance today. Good for France! I am rather a fan of the Bee Gees and I think Kaitlin and Jean-Luc interpret their music very well, including 'Barry's' beard (haha). Joyful. Although they got a Season's Best, I would have given them a bit more points to be honest. But then, I never do understand those Key Points! Charlène and Marco were at their best today. Enjoyed their Dance, and I was pleased to see they got good points. No comments on Victoria and Nikita. Good skate. I really can't help not being a great fan. Not their problem of course, they get the points, they're deserved World Champions and I would be the last person to dispute them. All in all, slightly predictable outcome but nice to watch as a whole.

 

[Minz]

I feel it's so unfair that Italy has only one guy here.

Couldn't they have borrowed Yuma and called him Kagiyama di Napoli or something...

A bit late, but I believe in 2012 (not 100% sure on the year) Japan went to the WTT with no pair team and still managed to medal. So it is possible to still do well even if you are missing people. The WTT and the Olympic Team Event give you points for rankings (they don’t just add up the scores like at the Channel 1 Cup in Russia.) So even if you win the segment by 50 points, you still get only 12, and second place still gets 11. With this method, you can make up points easier.

 

[Manuel Pablo Arnao]

Can someone please post a link to the videos? Can't find them anywhere

 

[katymay]

Simon's butchering of Anna's surname killed me. She is a World Champion, can't he learn how to say it right? She's not an unknown.

Please bring back Mark Hanretty and his Scottish brogue!

His commentary almost put me to sleep. Like a golf announcer with a low boring monotone. Watching I got to wondering if maybe he was right and I've been pronouncing Anna's name wrong all these years.

 

[Paulipau]

Can someone please post a link to the videos? Can't find them anywhere

There is a thread called "where to watch wtt" and single videos are all over youtube.

 

[lariko]

luckily, ISU is not locked out for me, so I have the full vids. I am just roughing it out through ID for completeness’ sake, but so far I had my heart broken with Uno, Grassl and Kihira’s 3A. Argh, I love that SP for Kihira, I hope she keeps it next season even if it was unlucky for her...

other than that, I am happy to see Semeneko still holding it, and Nathan Chen was brilliant. Oh, and Tuktamysheva delivering that 3A and the program with Step Sequence 4! My fav was Sakomoto though.
I also liked the second Italian lady, the one that skated the last in the first group. She reminded me a little of Frolova.

 

[Jammers]

Any idea why H/B are the Ice Dance team here for the US? Any chance of a Gold medal for Team USA is probably gone with H/B instead of either H/D or even C/B. The top Pairs team for the US is here why not Ice Dance too?

 

[Janice4th]

Any idea why H/B are the Ice Dance team here for the US? Any chance of a Gold medal for Team USA is probably gone with H/B instead of either H/D or even C/B. The top Pairs team for the US is here why not Ice Dance too?

I was wondering, too.

 

[chasingneverland]

Any idea why H/B are the Ice Dance team here for the US? Any chance of a Gold medal for Team USA is probably gone with H/B instead of either H/D or even C/B. The top Pairs team for the US is here why not Ice Dance too?

I read that H/D said they talked it over and with their coaches decided not to and instead focus on next year. They probably asked C/B next and they also declined.

 

[Gilligan]

Any idea why H/B are the Ice Dance team here for the US? Any chance of a Gold medal for Team USA is probably gone with H/B instead of either H/D or even C/B. The top Pairs team for the US is here why not Ice Dance too?

Team USA may be looking at the possibility of not medalling at all in the ice dance individual event in Beijing. 1 and 2 will probably be Papadakis/Cizeron & Sinitsina/Katsalapov in either order. 3 might be Gilles/Poirier. It's understandable, the desire to focus on next season instead of WTT money.

Also, doesn't US fed leave it up to the top US ice dance team to decide whether they want to do one or both legs of the team event? If H/D decide like the Shibs they want to do both RD and FD, C/B may get neither individual nor team medal at Beijing Olympics. One more reason both H/D and C/B want to be the top US ice dance team going into Olympics.

 

[el henry]

Team USA may be looking at the possibility of not medalling at all in the ice dance individual event in Beijing. 1 and 2 will probably be Papadakis/Cizeron & Sinitsina/Katsalapov in either order. 3 might be Gilles/Poirier. It's understandable, the desire to focus on next season instead of WTT money.

Also, doesn't US fed leave it up to the top US ice dance team to decide whether they want to do one or both legs of the team event? If H/D decide like the Shibs they want to do both RD and FD, C/B may get neither individual nor team medal at Beijing Olympics. One more reason both H/D and C/B want to be the top US ice dance team going into Olympics.

You have a lot more faith in SinKats than I do. It's certainly not a lock that they will beat either Madi and Zach or Madi and Evan.

and as much as I like Piper and Paul, in the world of ID politik, their placing ahead of the top US teams has been rare.