2022-24 European Figure Skating

[Dreamer57]

Having followed German nationals recently, thought I'd get this thread going with the Winter University games and European championships coming up soon! Last season's thread can be found here.

Excited to see Norway sending a woman to skate at both WU and euro events, plus there is a new Norwegian ice dance team!

Also happy to see Ukraine with all 4 disciplines represented

 

[Dreamer57]

Sofía Val and Asaf Kazimov (newly released from Germany) will be representing Spain in ice dance!

Patinaje Artístico España 🇪🇸 on Instagram: "¡BUENAS NOTICIAS! 💥 Sofía Val & Asaf Kazimov ya tienen el release de la German Skating Union y el clearance de la ISU para poder competir de forma oficial. 👉🏻 La pareja de danza participará en la Challeng

242 Likes, 4 Comments - Patinaje Artístico España 🇪🇸 (@fedhielo_patinaje) on Instagram: "¡BUENAS NOTICIAS! 💥 Sofía Val & Asaf Kazimov ya tienen el release de la German Skating Union y el clearance de la ISU para poder competir de forma oficial. 👉🏻 La pareja de danza participará en la Challenge...

www.instagram.com

Good luck to them at Challenge cup (23-26 Feb) in their quest to earn TES mins!

 

[brakes]

Congratulations to Anastasia Gubanova, new European Champion!
I remember how she dominated Russian novices around 2012-2015, then things had gone worse, but somehow she clawed her way out to the very top of figure skating, bravo!

 

[Dreamer57]

Kyrylo Marsak achieved a PB of 70.41 in his SP at Europeans and his combined total of 181.98 is also a new PB! He has been staying at the home of Valtter Virtanen in Peurunka, Finland, where they have been training together.

He had only two weeks to prepare for Europeans after the withdrawal of Ivan Shmuratko. Kyrylo found out before the FS that his coach Dmitry Shkidchenko sadly passed away from ill health back home in Ukraine.

https://twitter.com/AnythingGOE/status/1619030341527957504?s=20&t=UPaZe3Qlnxb8d5jkC4e3Dw

 

[yesterday]

News and some bits to get to know them better: The new Austrian pair Schaller/Mayr

I just learned that Sophia Schaller has now decided what to do with her two careers
She will continue with Livio

machine translation

Schaller/Mayr: Harmony right from the start

Neo-pair skaters Sophia Schaller and Livio Mayr are making amazing progress within a short time. Already in their first season they managed to qualify for the European Championships in Finland.

Livio Mayr already wanted to pair skate with Sophia Schaller five years ago. But it is only now that the two Salzburgers have found their way together. The fact that the two harmonize well is no coincidence.

"Why not," thought Sophia Schaller when she was asked if she wanted to pair skate with Livio Mayr. That was in March 2022, and just one month later, after their first pair skating attempt together, it was clear that it could work. After less than a year, it's clear: It works pretty well. Earlier than planned, in mid-October, the two ran their first competition. The duo from Salzburg managed to meet the technical limit for the World Championships in the free skate right away. In December, they managed to reach the European Championship limit in Zagreb. At the state championships in St. Pölten, Schaller/Mayr won the title with an excellent performance.

Sophia has been one of the best Austrian figure skaters for years. The 22-year-old has been on the podium six times in a row at state championships. Livio, 25, switched to pairs skating five years ago. Even then, he wanted to skate with Sophia. But she still wanted to stick to singles.

Livio's luckless partnership

Livio finally left Salzburg for Canada, where he lived and trained from then on. He competed with three partners from America in the past years. The partnership with Chloe Choinard from Canada was rather unhappy. Livio: "Pretty much everything that could go wrong did go wrong." The first Corona lockdown followed the first day of training together. In training for the first scheduled competition in September 2021, Chloe tore her meniscus. The season was over. The partnership ended a few months later.

"Most of my happiness now is with Sophia," Livio says. "I knew she was one of my best options." Livio is now benefiting from his experiences with his previous partners. The duo trains in Salzburg with Violett Ivanoff, Julia and Severin Kiefer. Whenever it suits, Schaller/Mayr practice in Oakville, Canada with the coaching team of renowned pairs coach Bruno Marcotte. "That gets us quite a bit," Sophia says. Japanese runners-up Riku Miura and Ryūichi Kihara are her training partners there.

Sophia and Livio harmonize well together. The two have known each other from a young age, trained for a long time in the same ice rink and with the same coach. Sophia: "We have similar techniques in jumping and skating." Livio sees the interpersonal aspect as a great strength of the duo. "We communicate very well with each other, we can address what bothers us and what we like."

Sophia's desire to learn

Of the specific pair skating elements, Sophia found the throws the most difficult at the beginning. With the lifts, on the other hand, she had no fear. "The twist is very complex, but it's fun to work on." The death spiral also takes a lot of practice time, she said.

For the short time Sophia and Livio have been skating together, they've already made it surprisingly far. "I figured it could work well," Livio says, "but no one expected it to work this well."

After their first season, Sophia and Livio want to see where they stand and where the journey might take them. Austria's parade ice skating duo Miriam Ziegler and Severin Kiefer, who ended their careers last year, have made it to several top ten finishes at European and World Championships. Livio: "That's certainly a goal to aim for."

Sophia will let her singles career be to concentrate fully on pairs skating. "It's a lot of fun for me and it's nice not to be alone."

https://skateaustria.at/news/schaller-mayr-harmonie-auf-anhieb

 

[brakes]

 

[Dreamer57]

Congratulations to Aliyah Ackermann/Tobija Harms and Sonja Löwenherz/Robert Löwenherz who earned their TES mins for junior worlds at Bavarian Open! Now Germany can fill both of their junior pair spots!
Luca Fünfer won the junior men's competition.

Carla Anthea Gradinaru won the junior women's event at Bavarian Open - team Switzerland are on a bit of a roll now!

Well done also to Maria Pavlova/Aleksei Sviatchenko who won the senior competion, their first international gold medal together!

 

[Dreamer57]

Congratulations Violetta Sierova/Ivan Khobta - pairs junior world bronze medallists! The first junior worlds medal for Ukraine since Nazarova/Nikitin (ice dance) in 2015.
Their free program to Halo was magnificent, I am so pleased for them!

Shout-out to Oxana Vouillamoz/Flavien Giniaux of France who earned all new PBs to reach Top 5!

 

[surimi]

There's no thread for the new season, so I'm going to ask here. Does anyone have any updates on Loena Hendricx and Eva Lotta Kiibus? I have noticed they're not listed for any Challengers, and Eva doesn't have a GP, either. I hope both are okay, I was looking forward to their programs quite a bit.

 

[Dreamer57]

There's no thread for the new season, so I'm going to ask here. Does anyone have any updates on Loena Hendricx and Eva Lotta Kiibus? I have noticed they're not listed for any Challengers, and Eva doesn't have a GP, either. I hope both are okay, I was looking forward to their programs quite a bit.

Loena has posted IG videos on the ice quite recently. She's been busy with ice shows over the summer so I guess she might be benefit from additional training time.
I don't know much about Eva Lotta though.

 

[Mariott]

Diana Davis and Gleb Smolkin pose in the Georgia national team uniform.

​

Perhaps it's time to create a separate thread for Georgia figure skating? There are a lot of bright athletes there: Ananstasia Gubanova, Inga Gurgenidze, Metelkina-Berulava, Davis-Smolkin, Kazakova-Revia.... There is a lot of interesting information about this team.

 

[icewhite]

There's no thread for the new season, so I'm going to ask here. Does anyone have any updates on Loena Hendricx and Eva Lotta Kiibus? I have noticed they're not listed for any Challengers, and Eva doesn't have a GP, either. I hope both are okay, I was looking forward to their programs quite a bit.

Also often love their programs, but I haven't heard anything negative about their status. Eva-Lotta is surely in a more difficult place now, I hope she will go on for some time still.

 

[CrazyKittenLady]

Who is Eva-Lotta training with now? Iirc, she left Anna Levandi, but have we seen her in competition since?
A couple of seasons ago, I fondly remember Eva-Lotta used to battle for the medals at the Senior B events with Olga Mikutina. Fun and exciting times!

 

[surimi]

Who is Eva-Lotta training with now? Iirc, she left Anna Levandi, but have we seen her in competition since?
A couple of seasons ago, I fondly remember Eva-Lotta used to battle for the medals at the Senior B events with Olga Mikutina. Fun and exciting times!

I think she was with Thomas Kennes last season, but I wonder if that collaboration is still going on. Rooting for her and Olga Mikutina as well, they're two of the most interesting singles skaters out there currently. Their programs tend to be original in a good way.

 

[TeamGubanova]

I think she was with Thomas Kennes last season, but I wonder if that collaboration is still going on. Rooting for her and Olga Mikutina as well, they're two of the most interesting singles skaters out there currently. Their programs tend to be original in a good way.

i think mikutina will take a break this yr she j headed to nj for uni

 

[CrazyKittenLady]

i think mikutina will take a break this yr she j headed to nj for uni

Yes, she started uni, but she is not taking a break. Olga will begin her season at CS Budapest Trophy.

 

[Dreamer57]

Germany (Grimm/Savitskiy) and Ukraine (Pinchuk/Pogorielov) have made it to the JGPF in ice dance!
Hope to see more European countries confirmed next week (F/F look in contention)

Yes, she started uni, but she is not taking a break. Olga will begin her season at CS Budapest Trophy.

I look forward to seeing Olga at her first event this season, also Lukas will be there (haven't seen him for a while)!

 

[DenissVFan]

If you are in Italy, on Friday in Milan there’s an event promoting the next Winter Olympics and you can still get free tickets. Deniss will be there and probably some other skaters.

 

[DenissVFan]

Show in Germany next week

https://www.eissportzentrum-oberstdorf.de/events/teilnehmer.html

 

[Dreamer57]

Show in Germany next week

https://www.eissportzentrum-oberstdorf.de/events/teilnehmer.html

Nicole! Deniss! Grimm / Savitskiy! how lovely that they people get to watch them in a gala!

Merry Christmas to all fans of European skating!