2024 Black Sea Ice Cup | Apr 6-7

[CaroLiza_fan]

Before we get into the Juniors, I just want to congratulate Mihail DYULGERSKI (BUL) from the local Odesos club for climbing up from 4th in the SP to 2nd in the FS and overall in Advanced Novice Men.

We have two girls from the local Varna club in this opening group, so they will hope to emulate him and climb up too!

And here is the first of them, wearing a very Kurakova-esque dress!

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

We have two girls from the local Varna club in this opening group, so they will hope to emulate him and climb up too!

Unfortunately, Ivayla MESECHKOVA (BUL), the Fokstrot club skater who had the SP costume that I was nominating for the most important awards of the season, didn't have a great FS. Which meant that the first skater from the local Varna club, Radostina VASILEVA (BUL), not only got ahead of her in both the FS and overall, but opened up a large advantage over her.

Meanwhile, the second skater from the local Varna club, Karolina STOYANOVA (BUL), slotted in just behind her team-mate in the FS, although she remains ahead of her in the overall standings. But not by much. The two local skaters are separated by just 0.15 points in the overall standings!

Skater #4, Ivayla VLADIMIROVA (BUL) from the Ice Peak club in Sofia, didn't have the best of skates. However, she had a large advantage from the SP over the previous skaters, so she should stay ahead of them.

Yep. She splits the Varna skaters in the FS, but stays well ahead of them overall.

Right, we now complete the all-Bulgarian opening group with Maria ILIEVA (BUL), who is from another club in Sofia, Elit.

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Finally, a skater from a club in Sofia who had a good FS!

Maria ILIEVA (BUL) from the Elit club goes into a massive lead in both the FS and overall. The FS by 16.58 points, and overall by 21.03 points

I was starting to get worried there, because my only kid in this competition is from a Sofia club. And she didn't have a good SP yesterday.

Incidentally, all the Bulgarians in this next group are from the same club as Ilieva. And joining them are our first three international skaters - a Ukrainian kicking off the group, and two Armenians going back-to-back in the middle of the group.

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Finally, a skater from a club in Sofia who had a good FS!

Maria ILIEVA (BUL) from the Elit club goes into a massive lead in both the FS and overall. The FS by 16.58 points, and overall by 21.03 points

I was starting to get worried there, because my only kid in this competition is from a Sofia club. And she didn't have a good SP yesterday.

Incidentally, all the Bulgarians in this next group are from the same club as Ilieva. And joining them are our first three international skaters - a Ukrainian kicking off the group, and two Armenians going back-to-back in the middle of the group.

CaroLiza_fan

How quickly things change!

At the resurfacing, we had Elit club skaters occupying the Top 4 positions in the FS, and four of the Top 5 positions overall!

The reason they didn't have the Top 4 positions in the overall standings is that one of the Armenians, Iren TER-MINASYAN, slotted into 4th position, just 0.42 points ahead of Maria ILIEVA.

There are two more Elit club skaters in this group. But, we start with the last of the skaters from the local Varna club, Anastasiia YURCHUK (BUL). And given the gaps after the SP, there is potenital for her to move up.

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

There were a couple of jumps where Anastasiia YURCHUK (BUL) didn't have great landings. And she had trouble getting up after a choreographic slide.

But, the rest of the programme was fine.

Have to be honest, I didn't like it when the vocals came in in the second half. No harm to Andrea Boccelli (I think it was him), but I think it was working better as an instrumental.

Unsurprisingly given she is from the local Varna club, she was getting a LOT of support from the audience.

She goes into 2nd in both the FS and overall.

Now for a couple of international skaters - the first Italian and the sole Brit.

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Well, Micol PANEPUCCI (ITA) has broken the Bulgarian grip on the top positions, going into 2nd in both FS and overall.

But, I can't see Emma LYONS (GBR) doing the same. She made too many mistakes.

To be honest, I think the problem was that everything was too fast. And Emma was struggling to keep up. The irony is, the music was actually being played a lot faster than it's normal speed. "Fever" is a slow song, but this was fast. If the music had been played at it's normal speed, I think the programme would have worked better.

She goes into 3rd in the FS, but does do enough to go into the overall lead.

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

"Je t'aime"

Oh, drat! I meant to have a good look at this skater, #15 Kalina VUTOVA (BUL), and skater #10, Sofia VUTOVA (BUL), to see if I could work out if they were related. They are both from the Elit club. But, there was too long between them with the resurfacing, so I forgot.

Interesting dress. I don't think I've seen a dress like that before. The bottom half was like a normal black with a bit of red that you would get with an olè programme. But it looked like she was wearing one of those blue bra-top thingies on top of it (I'm a bloke, I don't know the proper terminology!). But, it was actually part of the dress.

Anyway, she went into 4th in both the FS and overall.

Now to start the battle that I am invested in. Krista GEORGIEVA (BUL) v. Vivien PAPP (HUN) v. Chiara HRISTOVA (BUL)

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Krista GEORGIEVA (BUL) from the Elit club tried to convince us that she was "malade", but her skating said otherwise. She was really good.

And what a lovely blue dress she was wearing. Funnily enough, it was the same shade as the top of the dress of her team-mate that skated before her. Coincidence, or not...?

She went into the lead of both FS and overall.

Vivien PAPP (HUN) had a fall early on. And I think she popped the first part of a combination. But, I didn't spot any other problems.

She goes into 6th in the FS, and 2nd overall.

Unfortunately, we have a Warm-Up splitting up this battle. But, my kid will complete the battle straight after it.

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Missed the first minute or so of the Warm-Up waiting for Papp's scores. They took a long time to come through.

There was only one girl with blonde hair, and she only came into camera shot twice after that. Both times she was just crossing from one side to the other. Mind you, the first time, she was doing some arm stretches at the same time.

Hang on. It must have been somebody else with blonde hair. Chiara's withdrawn!

Right. Now I'm worried. Did she hurt herself in one of her falls yesterday?

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

With Chiara's withdrawal, the final group started with the second of the two Italian skaters, Annalisa URSINO. And such a racket that she was skating to!

She goes into 2nd in both FS and overall.

Krista GEORGIEVA (BUL) still leads both. And now we have the last Bulgarian, her Elit club team-mate Lia LYUBENOVA. Which of them will go back to Sofia with the bragging rights?

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Maybe I was bigging up the battle to be top Bulgarian a bit. Lia LYUBENOVA had a 9 point advantage over team-mate Krista GEORGIEVA from the SP. Barring a disaster from Lia, Krista was never going to get ahead of her.

And that was anything but a disaster. Lia had a great Free Skate!

No doubt about it, she will lead both FS and overall.

Yep. She leads the FS by 6.15 points, and overall by 15.19 points.

Now the question is: will this be enough to climb onto the podium?

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Mmmm. Not perfect from Marianne MUST (EST).

Marianne was tapping her head straight after she finished, and you could just hear her saying in her head "you idiot!"

She may have left the door open for Lia LYUBENOVA (BUL) to get onto the poidium.

She has! Marianne goes into 2nd in the FS, and overall.

The host country has a skater on the podium!!!

But, might she upgrade the colour of the medal from bronze to silver?

CaroLiza_fan

 

[Jumping_Bean]

When I saw Nastya on the JGP earlier this season, I thought she had a lot of potential, and while there are still definitely some areas she can work on, I have never seen her skate as well as at this competition - She has improved so much

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Very good skate from Anastasiia VASYLCHENKO (UKR).

She goes into the lead of the FS and overall.

Which means that, barring an absolute disaster from Elina GOIDINA (EST), she has won the Silver Medal. With Lia LYUBENOVA (BUL) winning the Bronze Medal.

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

As if it was ever in doubt!

It may not have the emotion of Lipnitskaya's programme to the same music, but that was a great skate from Elina GOIDINA (EST). She put in a skate worthy of the winner.

She wins the FS by 16.11 points, and overall by 25.96 points.

Resurfacing now, and then the boys and the Seniors. But, I'll only be able to watch the boys live, as I will be eating my Sunday Dinner during the Seniors.

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

What is keeping the Junior chaos?! The first skater should be in the middle of his programme by now, yet the Warm-Up hasn't even started. And the Zamboni finished the resurfacing a good while ago.

At this rate of going, the boys won't be finished at the time my dinner is ready.

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Finally! We come back from the resurfacing to complete our Junior double-bill with chaos! A group of 4 boys.

Livestream for the Junior Men's FS is now on air.

Here is the link for the livestream:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8fBc7Dan9I

Here is the Time Schedule:
https://www.bsf.bg/figure-skating/B...JUNIOR----FNL-000100--_StartListwithTimes.pdf

And here is the live scoring:
https://www.bsf.bg/figure-skating/BlackSeaIceCup04-07.04.2024/SEG006.htm

Hope this helps

ALL THE BEST EVERYBODY!!!

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

And to end the event, we have a Senior double-bill. A group of 6 girls; followed by a group of 1 boy.

But I'm leaving now for my dinner. I'll pause the stream and play catch-up on the Seniors later (it may be considerably later, as I am planning to watch this morning's Formula 1 race this afternoon).

Livestream for the Senior Ladies FS is now on air.

Here is the link for the livestream:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8fBc7Dan9I

Here is the Time Schedule:
https://www.bsf.bg/figure-skating/B...----------FNL-000100--_StartListwithTimes.pdf

And here is the live scoring:
https://www.bsf.bg/figure-skating/BlackSeaIceCup04-07.04.2024/SEG004.htm

Hope this helps

ALL THE BEST EVERYBODY!!!

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

And now. The end is here. And so we face. The final curtain.

And having the honour of bringing down the curtain on our trip to the Black Sea coast is Beat SHYUMPERLI (BUL).

Livestream for the Senior Men's FS is now on air.

Here is the link for the livestream:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8fBc7Dan9I

Here is the Time Schedule:
https://www.bsf.bg/figure-skating/B...----------FNL-000100--_StartListwithTimes.pdf

And here is the live scoring:
https://www.bsf.bg/figure-skating/BlackSeaIceCup04-07.04.2024/SEG002.htm

Hope this helps

ALL THE BEST BEAT!!!

CaroLiza_fan

 

[Daniel3120]

Missed the first minute or so of the Warm-Up waiting for Papp's scores. They took a long time to come through.

There was only one girl with blonde hair, and she only came into camera shot twice after that. Both times she was just crossing from one side to the other. Mind you, the first time, she was doing some arm stretches at the same time.

Hang on. It must have been somebody else with blonde hair. Chiara's withdrawn!

Right. Now I'm worried. Did she hurt herself in one of her falls yesterday?

CaroLiza_fan

Chiara withdrew because her skates are broken. No injury from the falls fortunately.